You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
by PeaSizeInk
Summary: Story starts with Alek's journey to America, along with how he meets two certain Mai that change his life for the better. Two years later, he discovers a shocking revelation, which in turn makes him ecstatic. Will he listen to his heart or act as the guardian he is meant to be? -Updated summary. Also may be a little OOC, but hey, I'm not perfect :D
1. The Great Escape

**A/N: I do not own anything relatable to TNLOCK.**

***ETA: This is not a run into your arms love story. There will eventually be Chalek, but you have to be patient. Good things take time, and I don't know about you but when they just jump into each others arms I don't feel like it is very realistic at all. Just thought I would let you know before committing to my story (Although I would LOVE that, and I would love for you to review and let me know how you like this story). **

'_Run. Run! RUN! Faster!' _That was all I could think. All I could do to get away. Run. Run away from the one place I had ever called home. I couldn't stay though. I ran all the way to the London Heathrow Airport. I made my way inside, which wasn't hard to do considering I had gotten out of my home so fast that all I could manage to do is grab a duffel and throw in some various clothing and a single picture. I stood there, looking at the list of departures.

Toronto. Newcastle. Beijing. Barcelona. Paris. Dubai. Amsterdam. Vancouver. New York.

'_America' _ I thought. _'Yes. America. Land of the free...Home of the brave..Well, that's what they say anyway. America it is then.' _Duffel in hand, I walked to the ticket agent. "One way, non-stop to New York, please." The woman glanced at me, and started typing away. "That will be 716 pounds please. I will also need your I.D." She said. I pulled out my wallet and handed her my I.D. along with my.._parents_..credit card. I hoped and prayed they had not cut it off. That was they least they could do. She swiped the card and there was a buzz. "Hold on one moment please." She said, picking up the phone. "If you could wait over by that door over there." She smiled at me as she spoke.

My hearing had improved since my incident on my 14th birthday. It was so loud in here I couldn't catch on to what she was saying into the telephone. I just stood there, waiting, staring at the woman. She waved me over after about 10 minutes. "Okay sir, you're all set." I looked at her, smiled, and said thank you. I walked away and looked down at my ticket stub. Terminal Four. I made my way to the terminal and waited to board the plane. Thirty minutes later they started boarding. I handed my ticket to the attendant and he scanned it, waving me by. I boarded the plane and made my way down the isle. 9A, good at least I have the window seat. I shoved my bag into the overhead compartment and took my seat. I was exhausted. At least I could just rest for a few hours until we land. I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.

"Hello? Excuse me, sir? Sir, you need to wake up, the plane has landed." I opened my eyes to see the flight attendant with her hand on my shoudler nudging me awake. "Oh, yes, I'm sorry. Thank you." I said groggily. I unbuckled my seatbelt and got up to stretch, bumping my head and elbows on the roof. I opened the overhead compartment and grabbed my duffel and exited the plane. When I finally made it outside, I looked around. I have no idea where to go.

There were taxis lined up along the front of the building, so I decided to hop into one. "Where to man?" The driver asked. "Times Square." I replied. It's the only place in New York I've heard of other than the Empire State Building. About 45 minutes later the taxi stopped and I paid the driver. I got out and he sped off into traffic. Taking a deep breath, I looked around. _Grrrrr. _My stomach grumbled,. I hadn't realized I was so hungry.

I turned around to find somewhere to eat and a girl bumped into me. "Oh, I'm sorry! Really, I wasn't paying attention." I apologized quickly. I looked at the girl, she looked about my age, she had dark brown hair, and equally dark brown eyes. "It's ok! I'm fine." She said with a smile. I stood staring at her for a moment, I was transfixed. I don't know why but I just felt safe. "I'm Alek. I just got off a plane from London." I said, holding my hand out to shake hers. "I'm Jasmine." She said, taking my hand. She looked behind her, "Here comes my mother. Mom! Meet Alek, he just arrived from London!" She exclaimed to her mother. I looked at the woman approaching, she had the same hair as her daughter. Her eyes were a little lighter though.

"Hello Alek. My name is Valentina. I see you met Jasmine. May I ask where your parents are?" She looked at me questioningly. "Uh..They are in London. I'm here alone, ma'am." I replied nervously. "Do you know where you're going?" Valentina asked. "No. I just got out of a taxi cab when I ran into your daughter." "Well, that won't do. Come join us for dinner, Alek." Valentina insisted. We all walked together to a restaurant.

We had made small talk and ordered our food and Valentina took a sip of her drink and looked at me. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you so far from your parents alone?" I looked down at my lap and gulped. I figured I would have to tell my story to someone..It just worried me what they would think.

I glanced at Valentina, and took a deep breath. "It was on my 14th birthday. I - " I hesitated. "I changed. I don't know how to explain it, but I changed. It scared them, so I left." Valentina stared at me for a few moments. "I know." She said simply, and matter-of-factly. I looked at her dumbfounded. "What do you mean?" I asked. "I could tell the moment I saw you. That's why Jasmine bumped into you. She had to get close enough to smell you." She was leaned over toward me whispering now.

"You are different Alek. Special. Like Jasmine and myself." I was still staring at her. I felt like an idiot because my mouth was hanging open. "What do you mean-" She interrupted me, "Not here." She stood up and went to pay for our meals. Jasmine and I followed. I looked at Jasmine and she smiled at me again. Valentina turned to us. "Come, we have much to discuss."

We were all in their hotel room. I was shocked..I knew I was different, but I didn't know why until now. It all makes sense now thanks to Valentina and Jasmine. They explained to me what I was. What _we _are. Mai. An ancient race descended from the Goddess Bastet. Pretty much cat-people. Valentina looked at Jasmine and I, pointed at us both and sternly stated, "Cousins." We laughed. "The thought honestly never occured to me, _Aunt _Val." She smiled at me and said, "Come along, nephew. Let's go home."

The next day, we had flown to their home in San Francisco, so now we were at their apartment building. We got in the elevator and Jasmine pushed the button for the eighteenth floor. Exiting the elevator, we turned left and headed down the hallway to apartment 1803. Their home. My new home.

As if Valentina had heard my thoughts, she stated, "Our home." We walked in and she directed me to two different bedrooms. They were both guest bedrooms and she told me I could have my pick of which one to stay in. I walked into one, there was a king size bed, the walls were blue and the furniture was white. As soon as I walked in I felt like I was home. I set my bag on the bed and walked to the window. Looking out you could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance and a trail of shops. I turned and walked to my bag and opened it. I pulled out the single photo I owned, and set it on the dresser.

"They looked like great people." I jumped and turned around. "You startled me." I said quickly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." She looked down at her feet. "It's okay." I looked at her and smiled, reassuring her. After a pause, I started again, "My birth parents." I paused and took in a breath. "All I know is that I was four when they died. It was in Russia." I glanced at the picture. She was right. They did look like great people. "I should finish unpacking."

She started to turn and stopped. "You know, you can talk to me whenever you need to. If you need to. I'll be here." She said and she smiled at me and walked out, closing the door quietly behind her. I finished unpacking and went to take a shower. When I got out, I got dressed and walked into the kitchen. Valentina was already in there cooking dinner. "Funny. I didn't picture you as the cooking type." I said. She glanced at me and smirked. "We can't live on take-out and pizza." I laughed. "Yeah, you're right about that."

We were all sitting down at the table eating our dinner when Valentina spoke up. "Alek, I assume you were going to school in London?" I stopped and put down my fork. "Yes ma'am. I would have been a freshman this year." I glanced at both of them."Alek, you should go to school with me! It starts in 2 weeks, I'm sure there is time to get you enrolled." Jasmine exclaimed. Valentina was staring at me with a curious look on her face. She was waiting for my answer.

I guess I could go back to school. Probably nothing better to do. "Sure, why not? Everyone needs an education, right?" I glanced over at Jasmine who was grinning like the cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. "Great! We'll need to go school shopping. Wanna go tomorrow?" I thought for a moment. "Tomorrow works. I need to get some clothes, too. Unfortunately I did not have the time to properly pack." I replied. "So, are there any other Mai our age in the area?" Jasmine looked down. She almost looked sad. "No. At least none that have gone through their transformation." I couldn't think of anything to say. I could tell that something was bothering her, probably that we were the only two Mai in San Francisco in high school.

She started to walk away and I stopped her, "Jasmine?" I asked. "Yeah Alek?" She was facing me again, looking me straight in the eye. "He wasn't Mai, was he?" I asked her, even though it was more of a statement. "No. He wasn't. That's why I don't get close to humans. At least none I can fall in love with." I slung my arm over her shoulder and gave her a half hug. Her eyes were glazed over, I could tell she was going to cry.

"Come on. Let's go watch a movie before we go to bed. Your choice." She smiled at me and we went to the living room. She scanned through the DVD's and picked out Aeon Flux. I smiled, "Thank Bastet you didn't pick out a bloody romantic movie!" We both burst out laughing. She popped the movie in and laid across the sofa, so I got comfortable on the loveseat. We both ended up passing out in the middle of the movie.

Valentina woke us in the morning and we got showered and dressed and went out for our day of school shopping. We went to a few stores and got some school supplies and I got some t-shirts and shoes. All that I needed now were jeans. Good old-fashioned - "Vintage? Sweet. Best place to buy jeans!" I exclaimed. Jasmine stared at me like I was insane. "I never thought I would meet a guy that liked to shop as much as you!" We had burst out in a fit of laughter as we walked into the store. "I like to look presentable" I said with a straight face. Jasmine just laughed.

We were browsing through articles of clothing and I had found a few pairs of jeans I liked so I started to make my way to the counter. I turned to look for Jasmine when I bumped into a mannequin, knocking it over. "Bloody hell!" I blurted as I knelt down to pick it up. "I thought that was something they only said in movies." A voice chirped. I looked up at the owner of the voice. She had long curly blonde hair and striking blue eyes.

She was stunning..I quickly picked up the mannequin and smirked at her. "Actually, on the contrary it is a quite popular phrase in England." She smiled at me, looked down at the ground and back up at me biting her lip. I was entranced, staring at the girl in front of me. We both stood silent for a moment and finally Jasmine showed up beside me and interrupted the silence. "Alek, mom wants us back at the apartment. She needs you for some information to get you enrolled in school." I looked at Jasmine and back at the girl. "So, uh, I guess I'll see you around?" She asked. I smirked at her again. "I'd like that." I replied. She smiled again and said goodbye and went back to counter to mark clothing with price tags.

I paid for my things and Jasmine and I walked out, heading back to the apartment. When we were close to the apartment, she stopped, so I looked at her questioningly. "You can't be friends with that girl Alek." She said. "Why not?" I fumed. "Because she's a human." She asserted. "Just because she's human doesn't mean I can't befriend her!" I argued. I knew why she was warning me against it. I had only spoken with the girl for 2 minutes and I already liked her. Jasmine stared down at the ground. "Just trust me Alek. You know that I'm right." I started walking again, and I heard Jasmines footsteps start behind me. "Yes. You're right." I mumbled.

**A/N: This was my very first fanfic ever..Review..pm me, whatever, just give me feedback! And should I continue this story or just leave it as a one shot?**


	2. My Curse

**A/N: I do not own anything relatable to TNLOCK.  
I couldn't help myself, after how quick I got reviews on the first chapter, I decided to just sit and write today. So, thank you to SyFyGeek13, ohhlalaachickaa, spencerreid'sgirl14, and TwilightFreak28 for your quick responses. I honestly didn't expect it! This chapter is shorter..and a little bit of a filler. I haven't planned anything in advance I'm just kind of winging it so sorry if I jump around at all! _  
_**

"Come on, Alek! We're going to be late if you don't hurry up!" Jasmine stood in my doorway with her arms crossed, tapping her foot on the floor. I slipped on my shoe and stood up, scooping up my backpack on the way up. "Finally" she sighed. "Now let's go." She turned and headed for the door with me right on her heels. "Race you." I said smirking, before taking off down the hallway to the elevator. She sprinted towards me and beat me to the door, smashing the button to summon the elevator. "Ha!" She bragged. "And _that_ is why you need to _train, _Alek." she continued, with a serious face. "And what is it exactly that we need to train for?" I asked.

She kept her serious face on. I swear she looked just like Valentina when she did that. The elevator dinged and we got in. Jasmine pressed the button and the doors closed. "We have to be prepared. Like ourselves, The Order is waiting for The Uniter to surface, so we have to keep our guard up. Just because we haven't found The Uniter doesn't mean we're safe. The Order could still strike." Jasmine answered. "Okay, we'll figure it out after school." I said. The doors opened and we walked out of the apartment and headed to school.

We made it to school with 5 minutes to spare. Jasmine took off to her class. I glanced at a slip of paper that I had my locker information on. Number 182, Hall C. I quickly made my way there, and scanned the lockers. Found it. I opened it and shoved my belongings inside, taking a notebook and pencil. I closed my locker and studied my schedule. The bell sounded and I started towards my first class, which I was late for. Already.

The door was open and I strolled into the classroom. "Ah. Mr.?" The teacher asked, pausing for me to fill in the blank. "Petrov." I replied. "Well Mr. Petrov, we are assigning seats so you are just in time. I suggest you make it _before _the bell rings next time?" He looked at his paper before continuing. "Have a seat, third row, fourth seat back." I nodded and took my seat. "My name is Mr. Simmons, the seats I have assigned to you are your seats for the entirety of the year." He continued on talking mostly about what we needed for the class and what we would be covering. Most of which I learned back in London. At least this class will be easy.

The bell sounded and the class exited. I was the last one to leave, and I quickly made my way out of the door, turning the corner, I accidentally ran into someone, knocking their things from their hands. "Bloody hell!" I blurted. "Is that the only phrase in your vocabulary?" I looked to see who I ran into.

Of course, the girl from the vintage shop. Great. Twice now I look like a bloody fool. "You sure are a cheeky little devil, aren't you?" I replied, smirking at her. She crouched down to start picking up her things. I bent down and picked up some of her things, standing up and holding them out for her to take. "Thanks." she smiled. Oh, that smile. I stood there, admiring her smile, her lips. I wanted nothing but to grab her and kiss her, and I don't even know her name.

As soon as the thought popped in my head, I took a step back. "Well.." I hesitated. Why couldn't I get anything past my lips? It's like my brain turned to mush. I have to go, Jasmine is right. I'm putting her in danger just being this close to her. I know I won't be able to control myself. "Cheerio then!" I turned and raced away as quick as I possibly could.

That was the last time I spoke to her. It's been two years since then, and every now and then, her face pops into my head, with that brilliant smile of hers. And every time it does, I shake it off. I'm a junior now, point guard on the basketball team. During the first few days of being here, I learned that American girls have a major thing for accents. Especially accents such as mine. It's not like I was able to put that to good use though. You know, the Mai-can't-kiss-humans thing really put a damper on that. Still, rumors would float around. I had a summer fling with a girl last year though. Valentina, Jasmine and I took a trip to visit the Seattle Pride and I met Mimi. But that's all it was, just a fling.

Jasmine and I train everyday, and Valentina gives us Mai history lessons on school days for an hour. I didn't realize exactly how much there was to learn. Valentina even dug into my background. Turns out that she knew my parents and I when I was a baby. It's kind of funny because they named Valentina my guardian if anything was to happen to them, but when they were attacked I was hidden away. Eventually some humans found me and put me into an orphanage. It's interesting the way things work out in the end.

We go back to school today. For some reason I'm actually looking forward to it. I've been laying in bed for the past 30 minutes. My alarm hasn't even gone off yet. I look over at my alarm. 6:24. I guess I'll go ahead and get up. I sat up and stretched my arms above my head and then stood up. I went in to the bathroom and took a shower, then went to get dressed. When I was finished, I walked into the kitchen. Valentina was standing in there, sipping on some coffee. I went to pour myself a mug. "Good morning Aunt Val." I told her. "Good morning Alek." She paused and looked at me. "When Jasmine is ready I need you both to come to my office. I have something to discuss with you both."

**A/N: I thought that would be a good place to stop. Even though I sort of left it at a cliffhanger..But I think I know where I want to go from there for the next chapter. **

**Oh, and let me know if you think I should keep this strictly in Alek's POV or if I should delve into other characters.**

**Review and let me know!**


	3. Waiting For This Moment To Arrive

**A/N: I do not own anything relatable to TNLOCK. (Spoiler! [though I'm sure if you're reading TNLOCK fanfics then you've seen the pilot episode...lol.]-Especially the conversation from the pilot episode)**

**So I was on a roll today and debated on whether to update again, cause it'll be the 3rd time in one day, but I'm just so excited that I'm posting it! Anywho, here's the next chapter. **

**P.S. There is a link for a tumblr account I set up for this story, it's where you can go to see what the necklace looks like :)**

"Good morning." Jasmine said as she walked out of her room. "Morning. Valentina said she needed to speak with us in her office." I replied. Jasmine nodded and we walked over to the door to Valentina's office. Jasmine opened the door and Valentina was sitting behind her desk. "Sit." Valentina directed, gesturing towards the two chairs in front of the desk.

We took our seats and Valentina was holding a piece of paper in her hand, staring at it intently. She held up the paper for Jasmine and I to see. It was a photo of a necklace representing Bastet. It was a cat, the necklace looked worn and at the bottom there was something engraved. It looked like hieroglyphs. On the neck of the cat there was a collar, and on the collar there was a tiny topaz gemstone. I've seen it somewhere..I just can't for the life of me remember where.

"Does this look familiar to either of you?" Valentina asked. "No." Jasmine replied. Valentina looked at me, waiting for my reply as well. "Yes, it does. But I don't know where I've seen it. Why? What's important about this necklace?" I inquired. "It belongs to The Uniter." Valentina started. "The prophecy states that the necklace belonged to Bastet herself. The last time it was seen was sixteen years ago, in Ukraine. The pride was large, and there were many children. Unfortunately the attack on the pride was brutal. They set fire to everything and everyone that was there. All the remains were charred to the point that you could not identify anything." She grabbed a sheet of old newspaper and handed it to me. _'Child Lone Survivor in Ukrainian Massacre' _the title read. _'By: Jonathan K-" _The rest of the name was missing.

"Do you think that the child is The Uniter?" Jasmine questioned Valentina. "I believe so. I also believe that there is a possibility that The Uniter may have lost a life that night. Which is why it is that much more important for every Pride to be on the look out for anyone in possession of the necklace." Valentina sternly stated. "I just hope that The Uniter does not fall in the wrong hands." she added. "What do you mean, wrong hands? Any Mai would be right, wouldn't they?" I asked. Jasmine interjected, "Not all Mai are good, Alek. Some of their..Agendas..Are not correctly prioritized." My brow furrowed. I would think that all Mai would want The Uniter to do just that..Unite. "Well I guess that's all the more reason for us to find The Uniter first." I urged. "Let's hope." Jasmine agreed.

Jasmine and I just got to school, and like always, Jasmine took off toward her locker. My two friends Tyler and Shane, made their way over to me. Tyler tossed a basketball over to me. "Hey man. We were wondering when you'd show up." Shane said. "My Aunt wanted to talk this morning." I said, shrugging my shoulders. We started walking down the hallway, and I was dribbling the ball. Then I saw her. Chloe King. The girl I can never have. She's talking to Crazy Amy. I turned my head slightly so I could hear their conversation.

_"Oh my god Chloe I can't believe you actually kissed-" Amy turned and looked at me. I threw the ball and bounced it off the wall as I was still walking towards them. Chloe rolled her eyes annoyed. "Look perky, London calling at ten o'clock" Amy said as she whipped her hair back and adjusted her top. "Okay that's your crazy obsession, not mine. I still can't believe I actually did it. I mean you would have been so proud of me, I just walked straight up to him and" _

Amy gasped, "Oh!" as I bounced my basketball above Chloe's head. Chloe continued as if it hadn't phased her, "I mean I don't even know if I'm ever gonna talk-" She stopped as I tossed the ball above her head again, only this time she caught it. She stepped down off the bottom of the stairs and looked at me.

"Hey jocko, do you mind? People are trying to have a conversation here, go play Look-At-Me somewhere else." She told me as she turned to throw the ball. It flew through the air and landed in a trash can about 20 feet away. Amy leaned over Chloe's shoulder, "You did not just do that!" Amy accused. "I think I did...Let's go." She replied, and quickly turned, grabbing Amy, who while being dragged away ogled at me and said, "Hi" all breathy."No Amy come on!" Chloe whined, dragging her friend away.

I watched her as she hurried down the hallway, glancing back a few times. I hurried to my class. I couldn't focus the entire time, all I could think about was Chloe. I now started to doubt myself. Is she really human? There is no way a human could have done that! At least not one that doesn't play basketball, and Chloe was not much of an athlete.

Could she be Mai? Oh Bastet, that would be amazing. What other explanation could there be? The bell rang, snapping me out of my thoughts. Coming down the stairs, I see Chloe turning the corner in my direction. I put my arm out in front of her, cornering her to the wall. "That was _very_ impressive" I started moving closer to her, and she backed away some. "Maybe you could show me some of your moves sometime?" I kept moving closer, and she smiled anxiously, "N-No moves, just a lucky shot." She nervously giggled.

I had moved so close that her back was against the wall now. "I wasn't really talking about..basketball" "Subtle, heh." she replied sarcastically, but still nervous. Her voice squeaked a little. I placed my hand on her abdomen, pinning her against the wall. "I'm not trying to be." I moved my face closer to hers. "Uhm..You haven't talked to me in like two years, let's get back to that." she squeaked.

Uncontrollably, I leaned in and inhaled her scent. "You smell _very.._good." I smirked at her. "Okay crazy non-sequiter man, it's called bathing...try it." She giggled nervously again. I cocked my head to the side and asked, "Why are you giving me such a hard time.." I paused for emphasis "_Chloe King?_"

She was flustered, and hastily replied, "Believe me, if I knew it was going to have this kind of effect I would have _never _touched your ball." I chuckled. "Don't say it" She said, looking worried. "Something tells me we're going to be.._very.._good friends." I told her, and leaned in ready to finally kiss her. She closed her eyes and just as I was about to kiss her.."Alek!" Jasmine interrupted, glaring at me. "Uh..well" Chloe squeaked, "Nice chattin', this was fun, let's try and never do it again." She finished, with another nervous giggle as she took off. Jasmine walked past me, still glaring daggers at me. I sighed, and watched her walk away. I guess that's my cue to get to class. Oh Bastet, am I in for a lecture.

The last bell of the day rang and I hurried to my locker, trying to avoid Jasmine. I knew sooner or later she would confront me, but I'd rather later. Besides, I have some research to attend to. I need to find out if Chloe is Mai. I successfully made my way out of school without Jasmine spotting me. I went to the coffee shop connected to the vintage shop where Chloe works. I ordered a coffee and sat down at one of the tables, pulling out some of my things for school as a cover. I looked around and saw Chloe's friends, Crazy Amy and Comic Book King Paul. I turned my head towards them to hear what they were talking about.

_"Maybe she's a superhero!" exclaimed Paul. "Ugh! Paul! She used to take gymnastics. Maybe that's how she did it." Amy retorted. "She was never good at gymnastics Amy. Remember? She quit because she said it was too hard. What about - " Paul stopped. Chloe had walked over to them. "Hey. I get off at 6, you guys wanna grab a bite and talk about..you know..later?" She said raising her eyebrows. _

Okay now this was getting strange. First the basketball, and gymnastics is usually running and jumping, Mai are great at that..Oh Bastet, why did Chloe interrupt! What was Paul about to say? That's it. I need to see if she is Mai..Bollocks! She spotted me..I quickly looked at my textbook I had sprawled across the table and started copying part of a paragraph to make it look like I was doing homework. "What are you doing here?" I looked up and she was standing in front of me with her arms crossed. "Can't a boy have a cup of tea?" I asked innocently. "You're not drinking tea." She raised one eyebrow up at me. My eyes trailed down her face towards where she had her arms crossed. I froze. Is that what I think it is? Without thinking, I blurted, "Where did you get that necklace?" She blushed. "I've had it since I was a baby." That's it, I have to call Valentina. I think I just found out my answer. I think she is Mai. And The Uniter.

**A/N: So what did you think? Review and let me know! **

**No one got back to me about whether I should keep this in Alek's POV or not. :( **

**Oh and one more thing! I honestly don't have anything planned in advance for this story, so if you guys have any ideas about where you would like this to go, let me know. I could possibly incorporate it in ;)**


	4. In Fear and Faith

**A/N: I do not own anything relatable to TNLOCK. **

**Here you go, chapter four! Yay!**

"I have to go. I forgot I'm supposed to meet someone." I stood up and threw my things into my backpack as fast as I could and high tailed it out of there before she could question me. As soon as I made it around the block, I pulled out my phone and called Valentina. Before she could even say hello, I uttered, "I've found her."

Valentina was quiet for a moment. "You're sure?" she breathed. "Fairly certain. I'm on my way, we'll talk when I get there." I answered, and hung up. I turned a corner and rushed towards the apartment. When I finally made it there, I sprinted up the stairs with my rush of adrenaline. I couldn't bare to wait for the elevator. I rounded the last corner and bolted into the apartment, heading straight for Valentina's office.

She was sitting behind her desk when I entered. "A girl-" I panted, "She goes to school with Jasmine and I." I sharply inhaled, still trying to catch my breath. "I thought she was human until today. She threw my basketball and it landed in a garbage can 20 feet away. I overheard her friends conversation, also. From what I gathered she has been..experiencing oddities in her agility's." Valentina interrupted, "It very well sounds like she may be Mai, but what makes you think the girl is The Uniter?" I sat down in a chair across from her and leaned forward, looking straight into her eyes.

"She was wearing Bastet's necklace." Valentina leaned back in her chair and crinkled her eyebrows. She raised her hand and rubbed her mouth, deep in thought. "Until we know for sure I will assign you and Jasmine to watch over her. Starting tonight. You will not make yourself noticed nor will you confront her. Go get Jasmine and fill her in, then both of you are to go find the girl. Once you find her, stay out of sight, when the girl is home tonight, you will take first shift in watching her. Jasmine will relieve you to give you time to rest before school. You are to call me if anything happens. Understood?"

I nodded my head in agreement and headed to Jasmine's room. I knocked. Jasmine opened her door and I informed her of everything Valentina and I discussed. Jasmine nodded her head, and told me to get ready. I went to my room to change into some black pants and threw on a black zip up hoodie. I waited in the living room for Jasmine and she emerged from her room, also dressed in black. "It's almost 6, Chloe will be leaving work soon to meet her friends for dinner." I said. "Let's go." Jasmine replied, and we made our way to the Vintage shop. We scaled the building across the street and waited on the rooftop.

***Chloe POV***

I looked up at the clock and it was five minutes to six. Time to close up shop. "Alright Chloe, I'm out. Are you good to close up?" Lana asked. I dangled my keys in the air and said, "Yup! See you tomorrow!" She walked towards the door and turned around, "Oh and Chloe?" she paused. "Don't be late tomorrow." I bit my lip and smiled at her, "I won't." Lana had an eyebrow raised, she didn't believe me. I don't blame her, I'm surprised she hasn't fired me. I'm always late. But it's not always entirely my fault. Usually I'm here..only at the coffee shop next door.

I finished hanging the clothes I've been tagging and headed out the door, locking it on my way out. I pulled out my phone and called Amy. "Hellooo!" She answered excitedly. "Hey Ames, I just locked up and I'm on my way there." I told her. "Okay. We'll be here! See you in a few." she giggled. "Byyyye." I giggled back, and hung up. I was walking past all the shops and decided to take a shortcut down an alleyway. After my birthday and finding out I have _claws_ and the incident with the homeless guy, I didn't feel quite so afraid. I still can't believe I have _claws. _

I looked down at my hands, holding them in front of me to see. I extended my claws and retracted them several times. Oddly enough, it still weirds me out. Paul thinks I'm some sort of superhero, but I think I'm just some sort of weirdo. _Thump..thump..thump..thump.._I whipped my head around. Where those footsteps? I don't see anything. I shook my head. No, I'm just being paranoid. I looked back in front of me and kept walking.

_Thump..thump..thump..thump..._I rapidly turned around again. Peering down the alleyway, I still saw nothing. I turned back around to see a man standing in front of me, three scratches on his left cheek. I gasped. "Goodbye, Chloe King." He plunged a knife into my chest, and I staggered backwards, falling to the ground. I hear a yell in the distance. Then there was only blackness.

***Alek POV***

_"Byyyye." Chloe giggled into her phone. _Jasmine and I were following her on the rooftops. "Shh! Quiet Alek! She's going to hear you!" Jasmine hissed at me. I stopped when I saw Chloe turn her head around. Jasmine was right..Oops. I'll need to be more quiet. Chloe started walking again and Jasmine and I followed. I tripped on a wire and tried to keep my feet quiet. I quickly looked at Chloe, who turned completely around at the sound of my clumsiness. "Bloody hell." I cursed under my breath.

I looked at Chloe. Oh Bastet! Someone was coming around the corner towards Chloe. I looked at Jasmine, and she was staring fiercely at the man approaching her. She shot a look at me and we took off towards them. Then I heard three haunting words. _"Goodbye, Chloe King." _I jumped off the roof, screaming, "NOOO!" on the way down.

I landed on a dumpster and flew off of it, sprinting towards the man. I tackled him to the ground, hitting him, striking harder with every blow. I had him pinned, and he cackled loudly. "It's too late, boy. I guess she wasn't The Uniter after all." His voice only made me angrier, and I extended my claws and ripped them across his right cheek. "Now you have a matching set." I snarled. The man abruptly pushed me off of him, and started throwing punches at me. I blocked them the best I could and struck him every chance I could get.

Jasmine had joined in by then, but the man was fast and strong. He was able to dodge most of our blows. Out of nowhere, there was a gasp coming from what was Chloe's lifeless body. Jasmine was closer, so she ran to her aid quickly. Just as Jasmine got in front, a knife landed in her back.

The scar-faced man had thrown it, attempting to end another of Chloe's lives. I turned to attack him again, but he was gone. I rushed to Chloe and Jasmine, catching Jasmine just as she was falling. I held Jasmine, and turned to look at Chloe. She was sitting up, frozen in fear, gasping for breath. "Are you alright Chloe? Can you run?" I quavered. She stood slowly, inhaling sharply, and proceeded to nod her head. "It hurts, but I think I can." she replied shakily.

I stood up, still holding Jasmine. I needed to call Valentina, but there wasn't time. I just needed to get them both to safety. Grasping Jasmine firmly, I turned and made eye contact with Chloe. "Follow me. Hold onto my sweater, and whatever you do, do not let go until I tell you." I firmly stated. She looked at me wearily, but nodded her head in agreement, grabbing my sweater. Then we ran.

***Chloe POV***

I heaved a breath in, opening my eyes. What just happened? I grabbed my chest and looked down, I was covered in blood. My blood. My eyes widened in fear and I saw someone running towards me. Just as she made it in front of me, she inhaled sharply. Within seconds, Alek appeared, catching her. -Wait, Alek?

Never mind that, I think something is wrong! I sat there gaping at them in fear. I started hyperventilating. "Are you alright Chloe? Can you run?" He asked unsteadily. Run? I started to slowly stand up. I pain shot through my chest and I gasped, but nodded my head. "It hurts, but I think I can." Alek stood up, bringing the girl up with him.

Seeing her face now, I recognized who it was, his cousin, Jasmine. She doesn't look very good. I looked back up at Alek, and he made eye contact with me. "Follow me. Hold onto my sweater, and whatever you do, do not let go until I tell you." With the look on his face, I knew that he meant it. After what just happened, there is no way I'm going to question him, so I nodded my head and grabbed ahold of his sweater. We started running.

We ran back through the alleyway, rushing past my work. Eventually, we made it to a building and went inside. We stopped in front of an elevator, and Alek jammed the button in one swift movement. The elevator opened and we went inside. I was still clutching his sweater. The elevator stopped at the eighteenth floor, and we exited, turning left. We stopped again, this time in front of a door, number 1803, I observed. Alek opened the door, and we hurried inside. He placed Jasmine on a sofa and turned to look at me. "You can let go now. Sit, please. I promise I will explain soon."

I released my hand, and sat down in the love seat next to where Jasmine was laying. Alek turned and walked towards a hall, and turned the corner. My heart was pounding in my chest. My eyes darted around the room, there were weapons on display and ancient looking artifacts. Alek reappeared a moment later, accompanied by a woman, who immediately focused her attention to Jasmine lying on the sofa.

***Alek POV***

"You can let go now. Sit, please. I promise I will explain soon." I told her, and she released her grip, sliding onto the love seat. I turned and raced towards Valentina's office. Not bothering to knock, I opened her door and her head shot up in my direction. "Come quick, Jasmine's been injured." I breathed.

Without hesitation, she brushed past me, grabbing the first aid kit. I followed her to the living room and she immediately went to work on Jasmine. "Call the healers. I will do what I can until they get here." She ordered. I pulled out my phone and called. "Yes?" A voice answered. "It's Alek. We need immediate attention, Jasmine is injured." I stated. "On my way." The voice answered, and hung up. Ten minutes later, the Healer showed up and started working on Jasmine.

I turned to look at Chloe, who hadn't breathed a word since we got here. She was staring blankly towards Jasmine and the Healer. Her hands were in her lap, and I could hear her heartbeat loudly thumping. Valentina walked over to her and crouched down beside her, placing her hand on Chloe's. Chloe jumped and looked from Valentina to me and back to Valentina. "Come. I will answer any questions you have." Valentina calmly stated. Chloe nodded, and stood, not taking her eyes off Jasmine. "Will she be ok?" Chloe squeaked. "In time. It was not fatal, but she will need time to heal." Valentina replied, walking towards her office. Chloe and I followed.

Valentina explained to Chloe about the Mai, just as she had explained to me two years ago. When Valentina finished explaining the basics, Chloe looked back and forth at us. "How did you know I was Mai?" she asked. "Alek was the one who brought it to my attention. He told me about the basketball incident at school, along with a few other things." Valentina informed her. Chloe turned to look at me. "What, were you watching me or something?" I smirked, "Something like that. I had my suspicions. So I informed Valentina and asked me to watch you. Normally we would have coached you through your transition. But yours happened so fast that we didn't even know."

She crinkled her eyebrows, thinking. "Is that normal? I mean, for my..transition..to happen so quick?" Valentina interjected, "No. But that's because you're special." Chloe looked at Valentina, then back to me. "What do you mean I'm special?" Chloe's eyes kept darting back and forth between us. "Chloe.." I started. She stared at me, and her face changed.

She looked down at her chest. "D-did I die?" she stammered. "Yes." I answered. Her eyes filled with tears and she was breathing heavily. "That's why you're special." I continued. "Only The Uniter has nine lives to live. Nine lives to endure." Valentina cut in. "Nine lives to accomplish much, but each more complicated than the last, and each death more painful than the one before." she finished. "Chloe, _you _are The Uniter." I stated. Chloe was quiet, I could still hear her heart racing. She abruptly stood up with tear filled eyes. "I can't do this. I have to go." she blurted, and ran.

I quickly looked at Valentina. "Go." She ordered. So I raced out and chased after Chloe.

**A/N: Dun dun dun! Another cliffhanger! I can't help it, I feel like they are the best way to end a chapter. Plus it keeps me motivated to write more for it. I can't just leave my readers hanging!  
****Sorry about not having any Chalek yet! But trust me, it will come.  
****Oh..And I would like to apologize about the fight scene, I've never written anything like that, so it might suck.  
And onnne more thing..I wanted to have Chloe find out she is Mai in a completely different way from the show. Let me know if you liked how she found out!  
Reviews make me happy and help motivate me to write ;)**


	5. All Of This

**A/N: I do not own anything relatable to TNLOCK.**

**So I was working on this chapter pretty much all day..I went back and forth between two scenarios and this one just seemed to work better for me..**

**Thanks to my reviewers! You guys are the fuel that keeps my imagination going! **

***Chloe POV***

I can't be The Uniter. This isn't happening. It can't be. It's one thing to accept that you are a member of a supernatural race, but being told that _you _are in charge of the fate of said race? Yeah, not so easy to accept. I wanted to be different. Not like this though. I wanted normal, sixteen year old different. Not _Hey Chloe, you're The Uniter! You have nine lives to save us all! But wait, there's more! You lost a life, so now you only have eight lives to save us! _

Then it dawned on me, something Valentina said. Mai can't be intimate with humans. Even something as simple as a kiss could paralyze, or even kill someone. I thought about the boy I kissed the night of my birthday. What if something happened to him? Oh god..no! I have to get out of here. "I can't do this. I have to go." I blurted, rushing out of the room.

I ran all the way home, entering as quiet as I could, hoping my mom wouldn't be awake waiting for me. I've got enough on my plate, there is no way I could explain to her why I was covered in blood. I made my way up to my room, and rushed into the bathroom, stripping away my bloody clothes. I tossed them in the garbage, turned on the shower, and stepped in. The hot water pounded against my back and I turned, letting it run down my chest. The water that pooled around my feet was tinted red from the blood. I started crying, remembering the events that took place.

All of a sudden, I heard a knock on my bathroom door. "Chloe?" It was my mom. I cleared my throat in an effort to hide the fact I've been crying, "Yeah?" I answered. "I didn't hear you come in and I heard your shower. Amy called and said you didn't make it to dinner and you weren't answering your phone. Everything okay, kiddo?" she asked.

Shoot. I had to make up a lie. "Yeah, everything is fine. My phone died before I could call her and tell her I couldn't make it. I ran into a friend from school and they asked for my help on a project." I hope that was a believable enough lie. "Okay, kiddo. I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning. Love you." she replied. "Implied." I called back.

I finished my shower and got out, wrapping a towel around me. I exited the bathroom and got dressed in a t-shirt and pajama pants. I grabbed my laptop and sat on the bed, plugging in a pair of headphones. I turned on some music and lay back to close my eyes and drifted to sleep.

***Alek POV***

I followed closely behind Chloe, not letting her know I was there. I didn't want to upset her any more than she already was. She ran all the way to her house without stopping. I climbed up a tree next to her house and quietly maneuvered myself onto the roof. Walking quietly across the roof, I scanned the perimeter of the house. I stopped at one of the bedrooms and peered inside. There were clothes in a small pile on the floor and pictures tacked to a cork-board above a desk.

I saw Chloe's door start to open and shifted my body away from the window. "Chloe?" A voice rang out. Her mother, I presume. I hear Chloe clear her throat, "Yeah?" she answered. "I didn't hear you come in and I heard your shower. Amy called and said you didn't make it to dinner and you weren't answering your phone. Everything okay, kiddo?" her mother asked. "Yeah, everything is fine. My phone died before I could call her and tell her I couldn't make it. I ran into a friend from school and they asked for my help on a project." Chloe lied. "Okay, kiddo. I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning. Love you." her mother replied. "Implied." Chloe called back.

I hear her mothers footsteps fading out of the room, the door closing quietly behind her. She turned off the shower, and walked into her bedroom. I heard clothing rustling and a light squeak of the bed. She turned on some music and the bed squeaked again. I lay back on the roof and listen to her heartbeat. Eventually, it slowed and her breathing steadied. She fell asleep. I lay there the rest of the night, listening to her heartbeat thumping away.

Every now and then throughout the night I would hear a rustle of leaves or some other sound and whip my head in that direction. Usually it was an animal, sometimes the wind. I took out my phone to check the time. 6:23. I should go home and check on Jasmine and get ready for school. I ran back to the apartment, leaping from roof to roof so I could take advantage of my Mai skills without being seen.

I made it to the apartment at roughly 6:30. When I entered, Valentina was up, drinking coffee. I looked at her expectantly, waiting for news on how Jasmine was recovering. "She's doing fine. The healers did well." Valentina assured me. I nodded my head and made my way to Jasmine's room. I knocked, although I wasn't sure if she was awake yet, and opened her door. I walked in and sat on the edge of her bed next to her. I looked over at her and her eyes fluttered open.

"I'm so sorry Jas." I frowned. "It's okay Alek. It wasn't your fault." I stood up. "No, it _was_ my fault. I wasn't paying well enough attention and you almost lost your life because of it. And Chloe _did _lose a life." I fumed, angry with myself. "Stop it Alek. Don't start blaming yourself. There was no way we could have known. How could we have known The Order knew about her when we didn't even know?" I sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. I just hate that this happened." She smiled at me."What time is it? Don't you need to get to school soon?" I laughed and pulled out my phone.

I nodded my head, it was nearing 6:45. She scrunched her nose and said, "You stink. Make sure you shower first. You don't want all the girls swooning over you to smell you like that." She giggled fiercely, cringing from the pain it caused. "I better go before you hurt yourself." I chuckled, walking out of the room and into mine. I stripped off yesterdays clothes and jumped in the shower.

After I washed up, I got out and got dressed. As I was leaving, Valentina called me to her office. "When Jasmine is healed, the both of you will start training The Uniter. Until then, keep watch over her. I will assign someone to watch her this evening so you can get some rest." I nodded my head and left, making my way to school.

When I made it to school, I entered the building, scanning the crowd of students in search of Chloe. I finally spotted her, making my way towards her. She was talking to her two friends. I turned my head to listen in on their conversation.

_"Wait, you _died_?" Amy asked, bewildered. "SHH! Yes. Some psycho deranged scarface stabbed me! Alek and Jasmine are like me. They're the ones that told me what I am. Mai." Chloe said in a hushed voice. Paul looked excited. "So wait. Not only do you have super hearing, super speed, and super claws, but you can't die? You're like a superhero!" he exclaimed. Chloe darted her head around, making sure no one heard. "Paul! I _did _die! Haven't you been listening to a word I'm saying?" Chloe hissed. "Sorry! It's just so cool!" Paul said, raising his hands up by his face. "Sorry, but I really don't think _dying _is all that cool. I sure would like to _not _have to do it again." _

Great. She told two humans about us. Let's just hope they keep quiet. I'm not looking forward to telling Valentina. _"That's not all you guys. Apparently I'm their 'Uniter' and I have to 'Unite' the Mai. Whatever that's supposed to mean. They weren't really clear on the details." Chloe continued. _I finally made it over to Chloe and stood right behind her, tapping her on the shoulder. "Can we talk? I asked her. She looked at her friends. "Oh! I just remembered, Paul and I need to go to his locker." Amy stammered, pulling Paul with her as she walked away.

"O-kay. That was odd." Chloe said, raising her eyebrows. "Yeah. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know in advance that when Jasmine recovers, the two of us will train you to protect yourself in case of an emergency." I said nonchalantly. "And what if I don't want to train?" she retorted, with her arms crossed. "Chloe..You have to train. We need to make sure you're prepared for the worst. Unless you'd rather get yourself hurt, or worse, killed again." She was starting to frustrate me.

I thought that she would have been a little more open to all this. Her face contorted into a frown. "I'm sorry. I know that's probably still a pretty tough subject and that this is all hard to accept. I've been there. Granted, the situation was different, but I know your pain. I don't expect you to take everything in with open arms, but just know I will be here to assist you every step of the way." I added. She nodded her head, showing me that she understood. "I'd better get to class." she stated, walking away. I can tell she's not going to make my job very easy.

**A/N: So what did you think? I'm not completely in love with the Alek and Chloe's conversation at the end, but I hit a mental road block and had to think of something to at least end the chapter.  
If you have any idea's of what you would like to happen next in this story, pm me or review and tell me! Possible spoiler, but I think I'm going to start the next chapter about a week after all this, where Jasmine has healed and have them doing their first training session. Aaaannnnddd most likely some well anticipated Chalek! **

**Anywho..*points down* Review please! They make me smile. Did I mention they also motivate me to write more? **


	6. You Might Think

**A/N: I do not own anything relatable to TNLOCK.**

**So I had a bit of writer's block yesterday, only coming up with the first bit of this chapter. I wrote the rest this morning. Anywho, on with the chapter! **

It's been a little over a week now, Jasmine fully healed thanks to our rapid Mai recovery rate. Chloe has been avoiding me, though I'm not particularly sure why. It's Friday night, and more importantly, Jasmine and I start training Chloe tonight. We were on our way out to get her. "So I'm thinking that we'll start Chloe with avoidance." Jasmine said. "I don't think she needs any help with that." I scoffed. Jasmine glared at me. "What's that supposed to mean?"

_It means that she's been avoiding me all week. _"Nothing." I lied. "Alek. You know I can tell when you're lying." Jasmine stopped, her arms crossed, scowling at me. I sighed, knowing I would end up telling her anyway. "I think she's been avoiding me. I don't know why though." I admitted. Jasmine started walking again, her face softened, but her arms were still crossed. "I don't think she's avoiding _you. _I think she's trying to deny everything that's been thrown at her. I'm sure it hasn't been very easy for her. She went through her transition with no guidance. And then on top off all that she got killed."

We continued walking as I thought to myself for a moment. I can fully comprehend the pain that comes along not knowing what you are during transition. And then dying on top of that? I can see now why she is so hesitant of embracing her Mai heritage. She's going to need a lot of help along the way, and like I told her..I will be there every step.

"We're here." Jasmine said, breaking me out of my thoughts. We climbed up the tree next to Chloe's house, and quietly leapt onto the roof, making our way to her bedroom window. She was on her bed, lying on her stomach, facing away from the window. I could hear the music pouring out of the headphones dangling from her ears.

I looked at Jasmine and whispered, "Lesson one. Awareness." I smirked and Jasmine rolled her eyes. Chloe's window was cracked open, so I quietly lifted it, opening it the rest of the way. I stealthily crawled into her room, creeping up behind her.

***Chloe POV***

My mom was out at some business meeting, and Amy and I just got done talking over webcam. We talked mostly about our plans for the weekend and what we were planning on wearing. Or more like Amy told me what I needed to wear. And like every other day this week, Amy brought up Alek and the Mai and asked me why I haven't spoken to him this week.

Honestly, I'd like to say it's because of the Mai thing, but really, I'm actually rather curious about it. I want to know more about being what I am. I think I am more avoiding Alek. I thought that we would have at least have been friends but once he joined the basketball team two years ago, he officially became a Jocko. One of the types of people I didn't want to associate with, along with the fact that he randomly didn't speak to me either.

Then I started to transition, and everything changed. Alek started speaking to me again, and I just wonder if it's only because of me turning out to be Mai. Ever since I found out what I am it's been hard to focus on anything else. I've been talking to Amy about everything mostly, but there's only so much that she will understand. I can't really talk to Paul about it because every time I bring it up he goes on about superheroes and comic book mumbo jumbo that I don't understand.

I think the thing that is hardest for me to cope with is the whole human intimacy thing. Amy and I called the boy I kissed on my birthday, Xavier. No one picked up, but I got a call a few days later from his brother. My worst fear was confirmed, and it tore me apart to the core. He died. His brother said that the police told him he died from going into cardiac arrest, but I knew that wasn't the cause. He died because of me, and I felt horrible about it.

Amy went with me to his funeral, I saw his brother there. In order to move on, and hopefully mend at least some of the pain I caused, I talked to his brother. I told him about the last night of his brothers life, and he thanked me, saying that I gave him the satisfaction of knowing his brother had a a good night the night he died. He said his brother was lucky to have gotten to spend his last night with a beautiful girl, and then he left.

In an effort to drown out my thoughts, I decided to lay down and listen to some music. I closed my eyes and just let the music flow, shifting my focus towards only the music. All of a sudden, the music was gone, and hands grabbed me, flipping me onto my back. I screamed as I was grabbed but when I was flipped over I quickly realized who the culprit was. "If I were an assassin, you'd be dead." Alek straddled me, smirking. "Alek! What the hell!" I furiously pushed him off, leering at him. He calmly bounced onto my bed, leaning back against my pillows, one arm resting behind his head.

I hear a noise and turn quickly. Jasmine is crawling into my window now. "Sorry." She said sheepishly as she made her way further into my room. I crossed my arms and turned my head towards Alek, pushing back the voice in my head telling me how cute he looks lying on my bed. Instead, I glare at him. He continues to smirk. "Lesson one, Awareness. Now come on, King. We've got another lesson to teach."

Oh yeah. Training. I completely forgot Alek told me that we would start training when Jasmine healed, and her standing in my room told me she was. Jasmine looked me up and down with an eyebrow raised. "You might want to change." she giggled. I looked down at my outfit, I was wearing pajamas. "I wouldn't have had to if someone-" I glared at Alek again. "-would have told me we were starting _tonight_." Alek snickered to himself.

I stared at him annoyed, raising my arm gesturing towards the window. "Do you mind?" I asked. He raised his other hand behind his head and sighed. "Nope. Not at all." He replied nonchalantly. "Out." I scowled. He shrugged his shoulders and got up, exiting the room with Jasmine following. I shut my window and got dressed in a pair of jeans, a peach tank top, and a brown zip up jacket. I threw on a pair of sneakers and opened my window, climbing out to meet them.

***Alek POV***

Chloe climbed out of her window and looked at Jasmine and I. "Well? Are we going or what?" she asked. I can't tell if she is angry or annoyed. Probably a little of both. Her tone was starting to somewhat annoy me. "Just try and keep up." I said, and took off, Jasmine and Chloe following my lead. We sprinted across rooftops, eventually getting down and running through alleyways towards the woods.

We finally made it to Jasmine and I's training spot. I grabbed the bag we had stashed with our equipment and grabbed the two big sticks lying on the ground next to it. Jasmine and Chloe made it and I tossed a stick at Jasmine and she caught it. Chloe was bent over slightly with her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath.

"Lesson two. Avoidance." I stated. Chloe's eyes darted up to me as I swung the stick around, flipping it around in circles in front of me before swinging it at her, stopping inches away from her body. She flinched and ducked away from it. "What the hell!" she screamed. "You have to be prepared for anything. An assassin isn't going to let you take a time out to let you catch your breath. At least-" I paused, "-none of the assassin's I know." I finished sarcastically.

"And that's why we're training." Jasmine interjected. "You have to assume they're going to be there and improvise." she continued. "Assume invisible obstacles, got it." Chloe said with the same sarcastic tone I used. She took a deep breath. "Do I get one of those?" she asked, pointing at the stick in my hand. "Not yet. Tonight you only avoid. Try not to get hit. If you can manage that, then we'll move on to lesson three." I stated. "Ready?" Jasmine asked. Chloe inhaled, then breathed out a long sigh before nodding her head.

Jasmine swung first, aiming high. Chloe ducked quickly out of the way. I swung towards her midsection, and she jumped back, away from the strike. We took turns for a while, every now and then changing pace. Chloe only managed to get hit a handful of times. Impressive for her first session. We trained for half an hour like that, taking a break for water three times. Once Jasmine and I were satisfied, we stopped.

"I think we're done for the night." Jasmine said. Chloe sighed in relief, leaning against a tree. She slid down and sat with her arms resting on her knees, breathing heavily. I tossed her a water bottle, and she opened it, throwing her head back to drink it. She downed almost the entire bottle before pulling it away from her lips and inhaling a large breath.

I stared at her, watching her every move. Even with her being out of breath, cheeks red, and sweaty, she still managed to look beautiful. She noticed me staring at her and her face flushed an even brighter red. I quickly took a drink of my own water. Jasmine was packing everything up. "I'm going to go take this home and take a shower." she informed us.

"I'll walk you home." I told Chloe. She nodded her head and stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow for more training Chloe." Jasmine said as she walked away. "Great, can't wait." Chloe mumbled. We started walking back to her house in silence. "It get's easier, you know." I broke in. "I hope so. My body is aching right now." she laughed, with that adorable laugh of hers. Wait, did I just say adorable?

I shook my head. I shouldn't be thinking she's adorable. I should be thinking about her protection, and only that. She's The Uniter. I can't help it though. Even when I didn't know she was The Uniter I thought she was adorable. Hell, even before I found out she was Mai. I glanced over at her. Her loose curls hung down on her shoulders, slighty bouncing with ever step she took. She inhaled a fairly deep breath and her nostrils flared slightly. In that moment, staring at her raw beauty, I knew that I wasn't going always be able to surpress my feelings towards her. But for now I'm going to have to.

She was staring ahead, walking silently with her arms crossed. "We're here." she broke the silence. I didn't realize I'd been thinking that long. We climbed onto her roof. "I'll see you tomorrow Chloe." I said, leaping off the roof before she could say anything back. I ran home, and when I got there, I went inside to find Jasmine in the kitchen eating ice cream.

As soon as I walked in, a smile lit up on her face. I looked at her confused. "What's with the grin?" I asked. "Oh, just that I can see the gears grinding away in your head every time you look at Chloe." she replied with an even bigger smile. "I don't know what you're talking about." I defended. "Deny all you want, Alek. Just know that you won't always be able to." She said, putting the lid on her ice cream and placing it back in the freezer.

"I'm going to bed. You and your crazy thoughts should too." I countered. She walked away, humming the tune to that immature children's song about kissing in a tree. I rolled my eyes and groaned, making my way to my bedroom. I took a shower and dressed in a pair of boxer shorts and laid in bed. I drifted to sleep thinking about doing just what Jasmine's little tune suggests. Kissing Chloe in a tree.

**A/N: And once again I am stuck! I can't for the life of me think of what I want to happen in their tomorrow...I've been debating on whether or not to bring Brian into this story or not. Honestly, I like Brian (however, I don't like him for Chloe) and with that being said I really don't want to bring him into the story and break his innocent little heart..lol. And I definitely don't want to make him evil! But then I feel like Brian is what gives Alek the courage to really think about his feelings for Chloe and act upon them. Ugh! Anywho..I'm going to try my hardest to try and think of something, so in the meantime..Review and tell me what YOU think! It could quite possibly be the influence for a (hopefully) great chapter!**


	7. I've Just Seen A Face

**A/N: I do not own anything relatable to TNLOCK.**

**So..I had a bit of a mental road block and worked on this chapter for the past two days. So, I guess it sort of paid itself off because this chapter is the longest one yet! Yay! Anywho, without further ado, I present to you the newest chapter of my story :)**

***Chloe POV***

An entire week has flown by, and we trained every single night. Awareness and avoidance, my absolute least favorite two words as of late. This morning Mom made me an apology-in-advance breakfast because she has to be at a meeting in Los Angeles tomorrow morning so she has to fly out and stay the night. Paul called me bugging me with more Mai questions that I can't answer, and I was now on my way to meet Amy. We were going out for coffee and girl talk, and according to Amy - nothing more, nothing less. I'm pretty sure she's referring to not talking about Mai stuff because that seems to be the center of all of our conversations lately. Which, I am so looking forward to.

When I finally made it to the coffee shop, Amy was sitting and waiting, sipping on her coffee. I waved at her and continued towards the barista, ordering my coffee and heading to sit with Amy. As soon as I sat down, I immediately started talking. "I'm sorry Ames. I know we haven't had that much girl time lately." I apologized. "It's okay. Really. I mean, you've got a lot more things to worry about then girl talk! And I mean _a lot. _Honestly I don't know how you do it. Although being around London hottie sure has it's perks, huh?" she giggled. I pursed my lips and raised one eyebrow.

"What? Oh, come on, you know you think he's cuuute!" Amy said, emphasizing on 'cute'. I rolled my eyes in return, and I could feel my face growing hot. "Okay, okay, I think the almighty king of the jocko's is cute! There, I said it, are you happy?" I said glaring at her. "Yes! It makes me super happy that you are finally admitting after _two years _that you think he's cute! And I know I said I wouldn't bring this up, but he's Mai and you're Mai so at least you know that if you kissed him he won't die!" Amy exclaimed. "Who said anything about kissing!" I retorted. Amy just looked at me and smiled. I sighed. She's right though.I changed the subject to school after that, and we talked about school and clothes and what we wanted to do next weekend.

It was getting close to three, and I had to go to work. Lana would kill me if I was late again, especially since I've been at the coffee shop connected to work for the past 3 hours. Halfway through my shift, a customer walked into the store. Not just any customer though..A certain 'London hottie' as Amy likes to say. He didn't even really acknowledge that I was there, he just walked through the store, seeming to be browsing the merchandise. I walked over to him, curious as to why he was here.

***Alek POV***

"Can I help you with something?" Chloe asked as she walked over to me. I'm not sure if I just didn't expect her to talk to me or if she actually startled me, but I jumped at the sound of her voice. I looked to the left of me and grabbed the first thing in sight. "Actually. Just an opinion." I said, slipping a hat on my head. "Ironic..or lame?" I said, smirking. It had cat ears, which was definitely ironic considering us Mai are very catlike. On the other hand, it definitely looked lame. I made direct eye contact with her, and she quickly bowed her head, blushing furiously. "A little bit of both." She giggled.

Trying to recuperate from how silly I probably looked, I quickly took off the hat and placed it back on the shelf. "I figured as much. I'm not really a hat person anyway." I said, shrugging it off as if I didn't care. Honestly I have no idea what possessed me to pick up that ridiculous hat, but it made Chloe laugh..So I guess it was worth it. Staring into her oceanic blue eyes didn't hurt either. "So if you're not here for a hat, what are you doing here?" she asked.

What _am _I doing here? I had meant to just check on Chloe from afar and 'study' in the coffee shop, but I ended up browsing the store, watching her as she did her ordinary human work. "I just came to do some studying and have some coffee. I figured since I would be no more than a mere thirty feet away I would come and say hello." I covered quickly. "Well..Hello, and goodbye! I don't want to be rude but Lana is already super furious that I'm always late for work, I don't need her on my case for flirting on the clock too." she said, turning and pushing me towards the coffee shop. Wait, did she just say flirting?

***Chloe POV***

I cannot _believe _I just openly admitted to flirting with Alek.. I tried to hide the embarrassment on my face as I shoved Alek across the store. Before he could come back with some sort of cocky remark, I rushed away, back behind the safety of the piles of clothes that I need to tag and hang. I snuck a quick peek at Alek, hoping he hadn't caught what I said. He was sitting at a table, smirking at me. _Great of course he caught it..._Not only did I openly admit to Amy that I think he's cute, I just admitted _to him_ that I was flirting with him!

I can't deny my attraction towards Alek, but it's barely anything more than a physical attraction. Of course it's not like we've really talked all that much. Every conversation we've had has been brief, small talk at best. I can't read him either..Every time he says anything remotely sweet he turns around and throws in some sort of cocky remark.

"Earth to Chloe!" I hear Lana say, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Quit daydreaming off in la-la-land and finish tagging those clothes. We've only got an hour until closing time and that needs done. We're taking inventory tomorrow, remember?" she snapped. "Sorry.." I said sheepishly, grabbing a shirt and tagging it.

***Alek POV***

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Jasmine asked as she came in and sat down beside me. I pointed to the books strewn across the table. "Studying." I replied. "Really? Because before coming in here I watched you. You haven't even glanced at those books for 10 minutes." She observed, smirking. I sighed, knowing where this was going. "You came here to see Chloe, am I right?" How does she always know these things? "I came to check on her. Purely Uniter protection. Scarface is still out there, remember?" I covered, but cringed at the mere fact that Scarface really was still out there.

We haven't had any troubles with him or anyone else since that night, but you can never be to sure. She cringed as well, knowing it was the truth. "Yeah, you're right. Anyway..I actually came here to find you. You have to train Chloe alone tonight. Not like you would mind that." Jasmine stated, smiling at the last part. "Why? Where will you be?" I asked, ignoring her remark. "Mom needs me with her for something tonight. She didn't specify what." She said with a shrug. I gave her a shrug in return, then smirked. "I guess I'll introduce Chloe to hand-to-hand tonight then."

Six o'clock finally rolled around, and Chloe was locking up the store. She made her way over to me and sat down, letting out a heavy sigh. "Long day?" I asked. "Something like that." She mumbled. "Hungry?" She flashed me a smile. "Starving." I stood up, packing my things into my bag. "What sounds good? We've got a couple of hours to kill until we can train. By the way, just you and me tonight. Jasmine has a prior engagement to attend to." Chloe looked up at me, following my lead she stood up. "What's Jasmine doing?" she asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Our illustrious leader needs her assistance with something unspecified. Pizza?" She shook her head. "I had pizza last night. What do you think they're doing?" I shrugged my shoulders again. "I don't know. Probably something with the Pride. That's usually the only thing Valentina takes Jasmine for. How about chinese?" We were outside walking down the sidewalk now. "Yum! Perfect! I haven't had chinese in a while." Chloe smiled. "Great. Come on, King. Let's go eat." I said as I threw my arm casually over her shoulder and we walked towards the chinese restaurant around the block.

***Chloe POV***

We spent the first 15 minutes at the restaurant talking. Alek asked all the standard questions, favorite color, music, movie, food, you name it, he asked it. I was intrigued at his behavior tonight. He was being extremely sweet and I couldn't help blushing every time he asked me a question about myself. It started to kind of feel like a date. But Alek doesn't like me, not like that anyway. Does he? Why else would he be asking me so many questions? It's got to be because I'm The Uniter, right? Yeah, that's got to be it. But wait..He put his arm around my shoulder on our way here and walked the entire way like that..Ugh..Shut up, Chloe! You're friends..Nothing more. Right?

***Alek POV***

I've asked Chloe every single basic question I could think of to get to know her better. This is the most we've ever talked without getting annoyed with each other, and it's quite nice. I could definitely get used to this. I've started to realize that I have more than just physical attraction to Chloe, we actually have a lot in common. We'd finished our food and after arguing back and forth for Chloe to let me pay for dinner, we were back out on the sidewalk.

"Do we _have _to train tonight?" Chloe whined, pouting her lip and staring at me with big doe eyes. As much as I wanted to say no, we really need to start working on hand-to-hand. Chloe needs to be able to defend herself in close quarters, or at least immobilize the attacker so she can get away. "You know that's not an option. Besides, we're starting a new lesson tonight." She pouted again, but this time there was a hint of anger and annoyance on her face. "Fiiiiine." she groaned loudly.

I could see the disappointment on her face. "I'll talk to Jasmine and Valentina about taking a night off." Her face brightened immediately. "Want to race?" she asked with a mischievous grin on her face. An idea suddenly popped into my head. "On one condition." I smirked, and she looked at me inquisitively. "Intrigued. Go on." Chloe was stopped now, her arms were crossed and her eyebrow was raised questioningly. "Loser has to pay for dinner and a movie. Winner's choice." She smiled, blushing. "You're on."

We darted over to a building and scaled it, coming to the rooftops before taking off into a sprint, fully using our Mai talents. We were side by side, neither one of us gaining faster than the other. I pushed myself to the limit as we approached our training area. I was sure that I had this in the bag. Out of no where, Chloe sped up, brushing past me. She beat me. We'd stopped now, catching our breath and Chloe broke out into a victory dance. "Looks like you're buying me dinner again, Petrov." Chloe shot a smirk in my direction. "Looks that way, King." I smiled, but kept my cool, trying not to show too much excitement on my face.

We stayed silent for a few minutes after that, steadying our breathing. "So what lesson are you teaching me tonight?" Chloe broke in. "Close quarter combat. Are you ready?" She nodded her head, and I crouched my body in a defensive position. "This is the position you want to attempt to maintain. I will attack, placing random blows and you will counterattack in turn. You have to block the hits while trying to immobilize me so you can get away." She nodded her head and assumed position. I started out slow, focusing on her upper body, only tossing punches. She effectively dodged all of my strikes, so I picked up the pace, adding a kick here and there. After about thirty minutes of her blocking and dodging every move I made, I swung my leg up towards her head in a roundhouse kick motion. She caught my ankle, flipping me off balance, and I landed hard on the ground.

The impact knocked the air out of my lungs and I let out a gasp. "Oh my god Alek! Are you okay?" Chloe yelled out as she rushed to my aid. "Yep...Just dandy...Good job...I'm immobile." I wheezed, nodding my head and smiling. She let out a giggle, holding her hand out to help me up. I accepted her hand and pulled myself up, inhaling a deep breath as I stood. I grabbed two water bottles out of my bag and handed one to Chloe. "I think we're done for the night." I said after I took a large drink of my water. She nodded her head in agreement. "I'll walk you home." I stated, as if it were something new. I've walked Chloe home every night after training since we began.

She smiled and we started walking. As usual, we walked to her house in silence, commenting on things about the training session here and there. "So what do you think happened to that scar-faced freak?" Chloe asked. "I don't know. It's possible we scared him off, but there's no way to tell for sure. We just have to be prepared for anything, anytime. Which is why we've been training you." I told her. We were in front of her house now.

"I hope he stays away. I can't bear to think about hurting another person. Even if they're trying to kill me." Chloe said, frowning. "I know. And I promise, I will do everything in my power to not let that happen." I replied. She nodded her head. "I should get inside, it's getting late." She smiled, and started walking up the steps of her porch. "Goodnight, King." She opened her door and walked inside, and just before closing it, she popped her head out and said, "Goodnight Jocko." and giggled, closing the door behind her.

I snickered to myself as I left, and climbed up on her roof. I thought about our evening. It was the first time we were around each other without getting annoyed or aggravated at one another. I listened, waiting until I heard Chloe get into her bed, and her heartbeat slowly steadied and she fell asleep before I finally left to go home.

***Chloe POV***

"So do you think he meant for it to be a date?" Amy asked. She was sitting on the edge of her seat beaming at me from across the table. "I don't know. Maybe? I mean he totally could have said that we would have to do something crazy or embarrassing, right?" I said, unsure of it myself. I took a sip of my coffee. "Well either way you have a dinner-and-a-movie date with London hottie!" Amy squealed. "That I do." I agreed, a smile spreading across my face. "Shoot. What time is it?" I looked at the time on my phone. "I've got to go. Lana is going to kill me if I'm late. Early shift today, we're doing inventory." I groaned. "Okay, well I will be back later to find out when you two set up a when for your big date!" Amy said, using a sing-song voice for 'big date'.

I blushed and smiled, walking to the connecting vintage shop to go to work. Three hours passed and Lana and I finally took a break. I walked next door and ordered a coffee, and then took a seat. I was sipping my coffee, and I saw a boy walk in, looking dirty and sort of shifty. I made eye contact with him and all of a sudden a rush of emotion coursed through my body. I felt terrified, and somehow, I knew that they weren't my emotions. They were his.

**A/N: So what did you think of this chapter? Personally, I know the kitty hat thing was totally a Brian and Chloe thing, but I felt that it fit more with Alek and Chloe because of the whole, you know, catlike abilities, lol. It just seemed more fitting for Alek to put it on. **

**Obviously you know whose emotions coursed through Chloe as well ;) And if you don't..Then I guess you'll find out next chapter!**

**Annnnd..I would just like to say thank you to my reviewers for your feedback, they have certainly been helping, and I've gone through and edited my story, breaking down the paragraphs. I had thought about doing that anyway when I was re-reading it. **

**I still haven't decided whether to bring Brian in, so this far into the story, let me know what you think. Yes or No for Brian?**

**I'd like to give special thanks to SyfyGeek13, Aya Ml, and TwilightFreak28 for continuously giving me feedback on this story. Anyways, I'm not sure how many people read these anyway, but if you do, review please! Let me know if you love my story, hate it, or just think it's okay. I'm open to all criticism!**


	8. Shake Dog Shake

**A/N: I do not own anything relatable to TNLOCK.**

How is this possible? I need to talk to Valentina, she has to have answers. But first I need to see what's gotten him so scared. He was over by the watches looking behind his back every few seconds. I got up and walked over to him. "Hey. Can I help you with something?" I asked. "No - No thanks." he answered with a shaky voice. "I don't mean to pry, but are you okay? You seem kind of shaken up." He shook his head. "No, really. I - I'm fine." He nodded his head, I could tell he was trying to convince me, and possibly even himself. I reached my hand out for him to shake, hoping my friendly advance would help him calm down.

"I'm Chloe." I smiled. "Kai." He seemed surprised as he told me his name. Maybe he isn't used to people being so friendly where he's from. The door to the shop opened and Alek and Jasmine walked in. Kai's face immediately flashed a wave of panic, and he bolted out of the back entrance. Jasmine and Alek rushed after him, and I chased after the three of them. "Wait!" I yelled after them. Turning quickly around a corner, they darted into an alleyway where Jasmine tackled Kai into a pile of garbage. Kai stood up and puffed out his chest, baring a mouthful of large canine's and roared. Despite my initial terror, I stepped in between my Mai companions and Kai, whatever he is.

"Stop! Don't hurt him!" I screamed at Alek and Jasmine. I looked between the three of them, all of which had confusion written on their faces. "You should be telling _it _not to hurt you." Alek seethed. "Will someone please tell me what is going on?" This time I was the one with the confused look. "He's a Jackal." Jasmine started, and Alek interrupted, "The offspring of Anubis. Also, the Mai's mortal enemy." Alek glared at Kai. "Great. Not only do I have The Order trying to kill me but I have mortal enemies?" I sighed, and rolled my eyes. I looked over at Kai. "If we're so called mortal enemies how come you haven't tried to kill me?"

_"Perhaps because he is surrounded by three Mai and knows he'll be dead if he tries anything." _Alek muttered. I glared at him. "I meant before you two showed up." I looked back at Kai, waiting for his reply. "When I came into your store..You - You didn't even react. You seemed...different than the stories I heard about the Mai..But for all I know you could just be playing with me..And maybe you do rip my heart out when I'm done talking to you." Kai stated nervously. "That's what you think? That I would rip your heart out? I could never do that.." I was taken aback. I could never rip someone's heart out, let alone hurt them at all. "I-I don't know..That's just what t-they told me would happen if I entered the city." Kai stuttered.

"Who?" I interjected. "My dad and my brothers..They warned me not to come into the city..I thought that maybe..Since you didn't attack me when I came into your store...That maybe you could help me." Kai stuttered. "Why would a Jackal seek help from a Mai?" Jasmine insisted. Kai looked at her. "My family. They told me that if I left I would be on my own. They..They said that if I left.." Kai stopped. His eyes were filling with tears, and I instinctively grabbed him, pulling him into a hug. He sobbed quietly for a moment, before pulling back and regaining his posture. He drew in a deep breath through his now stuffy nose. "They told me if I left..I wasn't welcome back. So now I have no where to go."

***Alek POV***

I watched as the scene in front of me unfolded. Surely this _thing _is just putting up an act. "You can come with me for tonight." Chloe said. "Absolutely not." I demanded, appalled by the thought. Chloe turned to glare at me. "And why not exactly?" Chloe snapped at me. "Chloe..We can't trust him. You don't know what he's capable of." I said, glaring at the jackal. "I swear, I'm not going to hurt her. Any of you for that matter. I just..need help. It's only for tonight. I'll figure something else out for tomorrow. I'll do whatever you want. Please, just...help me." He said, looking at me for approval even though Chloe already made it clear she wasn't going to listen to me.

I can't believe I'm even thinking this, but the jackal looks like he is being honest. I nodded my head slowly. "Fine. Just know I will be watching. All night. And as soon at dawn arrives, we're going to take you to see our leader. If you're telling the truth you'll comply with my conditions." Goddess help me..Valentina is not going to be happy. Jasmine hasn't said another word, she just stood there dumbstruck. The jackal nodded, agreeing with my terms.

The four of us were walking to Chloe's house, Jasmine and I trailing a few paces behind. "This is insane." Jasmine said. "I know. But oddly enough I think it's telling the truth." I admitted. Jasmine nodded, "I get that feeling too. Maybe we were wrong about Jackals." I sighed. "Maybe." I added, more of a thought than anything. "One thing I don't understand is how Chloe couldn't smell it. His scent is overpowering..Almost like wet dog." I scrunched my nose to exaggerate.

***Chloe POV***

"Why were you so terrified when you came into the store?" I asked Kai. He raised his arm out in front of him, he had four long scratches through his sleeve on his arm. "How did that happen?" I gasped. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at me. "A couple of Mai hunters. I got away before they could do anything worse." He looked away from me, staring ahead of him. After a pause in conversation, I broke the silence. "If you knew I was Mai when you came in the store..How come you didn't run then?" I asked Kai. He glanced at me before shrugging his shoulders a little nervously. "I don't know. For some reason I got the feeling that you wouldn't hurt me. I'm glad I was right." Then he did something he hasn't done in the brief period since I met him. He smiled.

He glanced behind us at Alek and Jasmine. "So what's the deal with them? They seem sort of...over protective of you. Is that normal for Mai? I mean, I don't really know much about the Mai race anyway but.." He said, gesturing a thumb behind him towards my two Mai companions. I laughed. "Well..It's their job I guess." I hesitated, not sure if I was supposed to tell people that I'm The Uniter. But something told me I could trust Kai, so I went with my gut. "I'm not a normal Mai.." Kai looked at me confused. "I'm The Uniter..and they're my..protectors." I elaborated. "I thought that was a myth. So is it true that you have nine lives?" he asked. "Actually, eight. I was killed by a member of The Order a couple weeks ago." Kai's mouth dropped. "I'm sorry. I can't imagine what that must have been like."

"It was horrible. I hope I don't have to do it again for a long, long time." I told him. We made it to the front of my house now. I looked at the side of the house, noticing my mom's car wasn't back yet. Weird. I unlocked the door and walked inside, waiting for Kai, Jasmine, and Alek to come in. We all walked to my bedroom and I grabbed a towel from my bathroom. "Here, you can get yourself cleaned up." I said, handing Kai a towel. He looked towards the bathroom and back at me, confused. "It's a towel?" He still looked confused. "For the shower? You know...Turn the knobs, water comes out..." I motioned turning and water falling with my hands. Kai laughed, "I know what a shower is." I laughed in return. "Okay..Well, I'll let you get to that. I'll be downstairs when you're done." He smiled at me and I walked downstairs.

Alek and Jasmine were standing in the kitchen waiting for me. "I'll be outside." Jasmine immediately said, and walked outside. "I don't get it. Why is he so important to you? You don't even know him." Alek asked. He looked genuinely concerned. I sighed. "He's afraid. He's been tossed aside by his own family and he has no where to go. No one to turn to. You say that your job is to protect me as The Uniter. Well, The Uniter has a job too. And I think that this is the first step in just that. I'm not saying that all Jackals are good, but deep down in my heart, I know that Kai is. I can feel it in my gut." Alek just stared at me for a minute before looking away and taking a few steps towards the door. "Hey." I said, and he stopped. "I'm really glad you agreed to this. I know that you didn't want to." He smiled at me and then walked outside to join Jasmine.

Not even two minutes after Alek went outside, Amy barged in. "Woah, didn't know you were having a party." Amy joked. "If only." I joked back. "Anyway, I brought Kung Pow and Gosling, as in Ryan. I figured you would want a night of relaxation." She said holding up a bag of chinese and movies. She dropped it all on the counter and her face changed to a very surprised look. "Oh my god, and here I thought London hottie was at the top of the list. Who's the eye candy?" Amy said with a gleam in her eyes as she stared at a shirtless Kai descending down the staircase. "It's not what you think." I said, rolling my eyes. "Kai, Amy - Amy, Kai." Kai waved. "Hi. Uh, can I put this in the wash?" he asked, motioning his shirt. "Yeah. I can get you a pair of Paul's shorts he keeps here for impromptu sleepovers." He looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "Paul is one of my childhood friends." I elaborated. Alek came inside and tossed Kai a bag. "There is an entire outfit in there. I keep a bag on the roof just in case." This time I raised an eyebrow at Alek, blushing. Kai looked from Alek to me and back to Alek. "Are you two-" Kai started to say before Alek cut him off. "I'll be on the roof." Alek said and quickly took off.

Jasmine walked inside. "What's his deal?" She said pointing to where Alek disappeared. I shrugged my shoulders. "Chinese anyone?" Amy laughed. Amy, Jasmine and I walked outside while Kai was in the kitchen eating out of one of the take-out boxes. "So anyway..what's his story?" Amy asked pointing at Kai. "He's a Jackal. Long story short, offspring of Anubis and the Mai's mortal enemy." Amy raised her eyebrows. "Wow. So despite being mortal enemies, I think he's sweet. But are you sure you can trust him?" Amy asked. I nodded my head. "So can they like..you know...kiss humans without killing them?" Amy asked with a grin on her face.

"Amy! I swear you have a one track mind!" I scolded her, but laughed at the same time. "Actually no. They can't. But before the fallout between our races, Mai and Jackals used to be able to be together." Jasmine said nonchalantly. I looked at Jasmine, curious. "Interesting. Do you think it's still possible?" I asked Jasmine, purely out of curiosity. "I would think so. You know, it's funny. Alek mentioned the fact that he could smell Kai..But I couldn't. I didn't tell Alek though. I'm not sure what it means." Jasmine said. "Hm. I couldn't either. Maybe it's a female Mai thing? I guess we'll find out in the morning when we see Valentina. How do you think she's going to react about all this anyway?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I've never come into contact with a Jackal before. I don't know if my mom has or not." Jasmine said thoughtfully. We all sat quiet for a moment. "Sooo." Amy broke in. "Kai is cute, huh?" she nudged both Jasmine and I. I could have sworn I saw Jasmine blush. I nodded my head in agreement. What? I can't deny that Kai is cute, but I don't see anything happening between us. "Let's go watch that movie." I said, changing the subject. We got up and walked inside, putting on the movie. I set Kai up in the attic just in case my mom came home, and Jasmine, Amy and I all fell asleep during the movie.

***Alek POV***

Since Amy was down with Chloe and Jasmine, I avoided all conversations taking place. There was no way that I was going to chance overhearing about how that mutt looked without his shirt on. Who does he think he is anyway? Strutting around topless like he owns the place...Then again it is pretty satisfying that he thought Chloe and I were an item..Although I had to rush off because there is no way I was going to let him finish that sentence. The only answer I would have been able to come up with is 'No' and there is no way I was going to say that. I surely don't want Chloe to think that I would say no because I don't like her. In truth I still have no idea how to go about approaching Chloe in that way..I mean, we have a date coming up..If you could even call it that. Our bet. How stupid was that? I wonder if she thinks it's a date...Either way, at least we'll get a chance to spend some time alone again. It's been fifteen minutes since the girls went outside..I think they should be back inside by now..I got up from where I was sitting on the roof and walked to the back and looked over the edge. Good. They went inside. Going back to my spot on the roof, I sat down and watched the perimeter for the rest of the night.

Dawn was approaching so I got up and headed inside. Meredith still hasn't been back yet, Chloe is probably going to want to call her at a decent time to find out what's going on. Chloe told me that the last time her mom went to Los Angeles for a meeting they pushed it back two days. I just hope that's the case..I walked into the living room and all three girls were sleeping. Jasmine's head shot up as she heard me coming. She nudged Amy and Chloe awake. "Who wants to wake the pet?" I said sarcastically, pointing towards the attic. Chloe glared at me. "I'll go wake up _Kai._" Chloe said, still a firm glare attached to her face. Maybe I should lighten up on the sarcasm..At least about the jackal. I still don't understand what's so important about the thing, but I'm willing to try to deal with it for Chloe's sake. She went upstairs and minutes later she descended the stairs, jackal in tow. "Are you ready to meet our illustrious leader?" I smirked. The jackal..._Kai..._I really should try to refer to it by it's name, stretched his arms high above his head and let out what sounded like the sound a dog makes while stretching. I snickered quietly to myself. "Ready as I'll ever be." He said with a shrug. The girls all went upstairs to get ready and Kai and I stayed downstairs waiting. They all came back down an ungodly amount of time later (_women...) _and we proceeded out the door to head to the apartment in Amy's car.

**A/N: So what did you think? I was in a rush to upload because I had a lot of errands to run yesterday. I was actually heading out the door for a baseball game yesterday right when I posted this chapter. (We lost-booo!) Anywho..I'm surprised I've been able to write so much in such a small amount of time because I'm a full time stay at home mom of a very active almost four year old..lol. But my personal life isn't much of a concern here, just my writing :) **

**So..About the chapter. I really liked Kai's character, so I wanted to incorporate him into my story. I thought it would make it a little more interesting. Anyways, I've got some questions for my readers and I would love for some input!**

**1) Are you liking my changes to the plot line?**

**2) Should Kai just be there to help by being a good friend to everyone or should he be a romantic interest for someone? (And if you choose romantic interest, elaborate on who you want to see him with.)**

**3) Are there any characters from the show you want to see or see more of?**

**4) Any ideas on what you want to happen with Chloe and Alek's 'date'? ;)**

**So..Let me know what you think! It will help progress this story. As always..Review, pm me, just let me know your thoughts and opinions on this story! 3**


	9. Collision Of Worlds

**A/N: I do not own anything relatable to TNLOCK.**

**Sooo..I feel like this is sort of a filler chapter, but I promise it leads to something worthwhile at the end.**

***Alek POV***

We pulled up to the apartments and Amy parked the car. As we got out of the car I grabbed Chloe's hand and pulled her off to the side. "Before we go in you should call your mom. I remember you telling me she was supposed to only be gone one night and I just want to make sure she is alright. Also, I wanted to prepare you for what we're about to do. There is no telling how Valentina will react to this so I just want you to be prepared for anything." I told her. "I'm sure everything will be fine once we explain to Valentina the situation." she paused, nodding. "And thank you. For this and for your concern about my mom." She smiled, and then looked down at her hand still resting in mine. She blushed and I let go of her hand and cleared my throat. "Uh..I'll let you call your mom. We'll wait in the lobby until you're done."

***Chloe POV***

I stood there for a minute watching Alek walk to the group of my friends and head inside the building. He really can be sweet when he wants to be. I hope Valentina will be understanding about Kai. I pulled my phone out and dialed my mom's cell. After a few rings, she finally picked up._ "Hey kiddo! I am so so sorry I didn't call! I lost my phone charger and finally bought a new one this morning. You know me and technology. I swear it literally runs from me. Anyway, how are you? And what are you doing up this early?" _she said quickly, laughing."Oh Amy and Jasmine stayed the night last night and we fell asleep pretty early watching a movie. Hence the early rising." I laughed back.

_"Sounds like you had fun. I'm glad, I felt horrible about not calling you and leaving you alone again. These people don't take personal lives into account when they set up these meetings. They pushed the meeting to today and scheduled another for tomorrow morning, so I won't be home until tomorrow night sometime. And this time I promise I'll call you if anything changes." _she said, I could tell she was annoyed. She hates when they spring stuff on her last minute, especially when she has to leave home for it. "It's okay mom. I'll see if the girls want to stay again or see if I can stay with one of them." I reassured her, knowing it would make her feel better if I wasn't alone. _"Okay kiddo. I'll see you sometime tomorrow. I love you." _she said. "Implied." I replied, and hung up.

Now to get this over with. I started to get a little nervous about taking Kai to Valentina. What if she automatically tries to hurt him? No she wouldn't do that..Would she? I shook my head. No, she'll understand. I sighed and made my way inside the building. Alek and Jasmine were standing off to the side and Amy was just standing there staring at Kai. He looked relieved when he saw me, I don't blame him. Amy can be a little forward, she probably made him feel awkward just staring at him. "Ready?" I asked, looking at each of them.

Alek and Jasmine started towards the elevator, showing that they were. Amy, Kai and I followed suit. We all piled into the elevator when the doors opened and rode up to the eighteenth floor in silence. The elevator opened, and we exited one by one, heading down the hallway to the door of the apartment. Jasmine opened the door and entered first, followed by Alek, then Amy, then Kai and myself.

Valentina quickly emerged from the hallway by her office. She abruptly stopped when she saw Kai and looked at Jasmine, Alek and me. "What on earth is going on?" she asked, venom and confusion laced in her voice. I knew that Jasmine and Alek in no way wanted to explain so I started. "This is Kai. He's a jackal, and he means no harm." I stated matter-of-factly. I figured that was the best way to start, I needed to make sure to get at least that much out in the open. Valentina stared at Kai now, and walked over, circling him.

Kai tensed slightly, nervous at Valentina's intrusion of personal space. She circled him three times before walking to the sofa and taking a seat, exhaling a long breath. "Sit." She motioned at the furniture, and the five of us sat down. "Explain." she said. At least she is willing to hear everything out. I looked around the room at everyone, looking for someone to volunteer to explain. Kai nodded when my eyes met his.

"It happened a few days ago. I had a fight with my dad and brothers. I wanted to come and see the city, I had never ventured out of the confinements of wherever our current home was. They told me that the city was dangerous, and that I was a fool to come, especially alone. None would come with me. They told me if I left, if I was lucky enough to stay alive, that I wouldn't be welcome back. So I made my decision to leave. Mostly because I grew tired of the lifestyle they lead. They lie, cheat and steal to get what they want. I don't want that. I want to be better than that. Make something of myself instead of moving around from city to city, hiding. Hopefully I have that chance. I was lucky enough to come across Chloe. She helped me, and protected me. If it wasn't for her, they probably would have killed me." Kai motioned to Jasmine and Alek, and maintained eye contact with Valentina throughout his entire speech. Valentina nodded. "And how exactly did you come into contact with Chloe?" she asked.

"I went into her store after escaping some Mai hunters. I was stunned to find that I walked into a store with a Mai inside, and I was going to run out before I realized she hadn't even noticed I came in. That is, until she saw me. Then she came over to me and offered her help." Kai answered. Valentina then turned and looked at me. "Is this true?" I nodded in confirmation. "Valentina, I'm sure you still have a lot of questions, but I wanted to talk to you about something in private, can we continue this later?" I asked, motioning to Kai and the others. Valentina nodded and stood up.

"Until we're done, no one leaves, understood?" Valentina stated firmly. Jasmine and Alek nodded their heads. I held up a finger, motioning for Valentina to wait a minute. I asked Jasmine to join me in the kitchen. "Before going in there, I wanted to let you know that I'm going to talk to her about Alek being able to smell Kai and how we couldn't. Is that okay with you?" I asked her quietly. "Yeah. But before you do, can you come and get me so I can be there? I want to know why I couldn't smell him." She whispered. I nodded my head and made my way to Valentina's office.

Valentina and I entered her office, and she sat behind her desk and motioned for me to sit in one of the chairs in front of it. "I wanted to talk to you about this alone, because I haven't told Jasmine and Alek yet. I wasn't sure what to think of it either, so I figured it was best to ask you about it." I started. She raised and eyebrow and leaned back in her chair, waiting for me to continue. "When he came into the store I could tell that he was scared, but I chalked it up to him being homeless or something. I mean, the way he looked when he came in I wouldn't have thought twice about it. But then I made eye contact with him and I felt terrified. But I wasn't terrified of him, I felt his terror. Like I directly felt his emotions. But that's crazy, right?" I looked at Valentina waiting for her input. Her face changed as she came to a realization about something. "Chloe, do you know what the word empathy means?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's like if your friend feels bad, then you feel bad for them." I answered. "Close. Empathy is directly experiencing the emotions of another person." she paused and I looked at her with confusion. "You, my child, are an empath." she finished. "Like being Mai and The Uniter wasn't enough?" I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Or more likely you have this gift because you are The Uniter. Some of the very old legends claim that all Mai were once capable of this. It's what bonded us to humans. It's not surprising that you possess this quality, you are the embodiment of all that is Mai. But what I don't understand is how you empathized with a Jackal." Valentina stated. "Ugh, I swear, they should have made a handbook for this." I sighed, throwing my arms in the air and rolling my eyes. Valentina let out a chuckle. "Yes Chloe, that would have made things much easier. But no one could have known what to expect as The Uniter, as there is only one."

I nodded my head. "Oh, there's one more thing, but hold on just a minute, I'll be right back." I got up and headed to the door, opening it and going out to the living room. Jasmine stood up and walked over to me while Alek, Kai and Amy sat looking at us in confusion. "We'll explain later." I said, and grabbed Jasmine and headed back to Valentina's office. We went in, closing the door behind us, and sat down. Valentina looked up at us in confusion. "I told Jasmine I would come get her before we talked about this next part." I stated. Valentina nodded. "We were both wondering..Alek mentioned to me that he smelled Kai when he came in the store. He said it smelled like...wet dog. But neither Chloe nor I could smell anything and we were wondering why?" Jasmine inquired.

Valentina stood up and walked over to her bookshelf, running her fingers along the spines of a bunch of old books. She plucked one off the shelf and flipped through, stopping somewhere in the middle. She set the book down on her desk so we could read it. Both of us leaned in together, reading silently.

_The time will come, when the fates decide_

_A girl will be born to unite with pride_

_With eyes like the ocean, a heart of gold_

_The end of the story is yet to be told_

_The blood of Bastet runs through her veins_

_The time will come that the Mai will reign_

_Not without help, from a unlikely source _

_An ancient race will admit remorse_

_The Jackal comes forth and rises above_

_The Uniter's protector, The Jackal will love_

_The two will prove they can co-exist_

_They will end the feud, sealed with a kiss_

_The Order will fall, The Ancients will rise_

_And peace will be ruled through cat's eyes_

"One of The Uniter prophecies. I've collected as many of the old books as I could throughout the years, and I still don't know which are true and which are false. Only our Goddess can know our true fates." Valentina stated. "Do you think that's why we couldn't smell him? Oh and you still haven't said whether you could smell him or not?" I asked, desperate to know the answer. Because if this was all true that means that Kai is going to fall in love with Jasmine right? I mean, she is sort of my protector, even though we never made anything official. "I smelled him the second he walked in. Perhaps the prophecy is true and that's the reason neither of you smelled him." Valentina looked slightly worried.

My guess is that she's thinking the same thing I am about Kai and Jasmine. But she's right, only Bastet knows the fate of us all..I looked over at Jasmine who was sitting back in her chair, speechless. Looks like we've all realized what may or may not be true. "I'd rather keep all this between only us for now..Let fate determine what's to come or not." Valentina suggested. Jasmine and I both nodded in agreement and stood up, walking to the living room, Valentina following behind us.

The three of us walked into the living room and Alek, Kai and Amy looked up expectantly at us. I looked at Kai. "Obviously you can't stay at my house. My mother is a human and doesn't know what I am and I would like to keep it that way. So we'll need to find other arrangements for you." I glanced at Valentina, hoping she caught on to what I was saying. "Kai..You may stay here for the time being in the guest room. You will attend school with the others, and find a job so you can support yourself and find a place of your own." Kai nodded his head. "Thank you so much. I don't know how I will ever repay you." Kai said with the most grateful tone of voice. "Just be sure to stay true to your word." Valentina said, and then turned and walked back into her office, closing the door behind her.

**A/N: So what did you guys think? It took me forever to write that prophecy and I take pride in it very much! I feel like it is the purpose of the entire chapter...**

**Anyways, I had to go back and add my author's note to the last chapter because I rushed posting it. I just had to get it up and out there..So if you didn't see it, go read it! I put some questions on there...I kind of answered one of them in this chapter though, I didn't get any feedback and the idea struck me for the prophecy so I just went with it. **

**But yeah, spoiler! I plan on writing Chloe and Alek's big "date" next chapter, so be prepared! I got sidetracked today with a bunch of romantic quotes to use throughout this story and I'm so excited to use them..So let that be fuel for you to look forward to this story even that much more! **

**Also..I know, I know..I ramble a lot on my notes, but I've been keeping up with my story stats and they have slowly been dropping :( So if you enjoy this story..try and get some others to give it a go..The more my stats drop, the less I want to write for it. I'm not saying I'll stop, but updates will come much slower. **

**So review please and make my day/night! Thanks!**


	10. First Date

**A/N: I do not own anything relatable to TNLOCK.**

**So I could not for the life of me get this chapter going so I just wrote when I felt inspiration, which took forever! Lol, anyways..I guess longer wait paid off some, this chapter is approximately 3,800 words! Longest yet, yay! So without further ado, chapter ten!**

***Alek POV***

My alarm sounded, waking me up so I got up and took a shower. I felt well rested because I was actually able to get a decent night of sleep. Valentina set Kai up in the guest room and Chloe ended up staying the night, sleeping in Jasmine's room. After my shower, I got dressed I went into the kitchen, where Kai was already awake and dressed as well. Surprisingly enough, he even seemed somewhat happy to see me.

"Morning." I muttered. "Morning." Kai echoed with a smile. I smiled back the friendliest smile I could muster up as I headed to the coffee pot to start a pot of coffee only to find it already full. "Hope you don't mind. I was awake a little early and started some coffee for everyone when they wake up." Kai said, gesturing to the cup of coffee in his hands. I grabbed a mug from the cupboard and poured my coffee. I figured the least I could do was make small talk with the guy, even though I was still sort of weary of him. It's hard to trust someone you were taught to hate. "Thanks. So did Valentina get everything situated for you with school?" I asked. Kai nodded, and took a sip of his coffee. "Yeah. I don't know how she did it on such short notice, but I start today. Believe it or not, I'm actually really looking forward to it." he shrugged with another smile.

"Really?" I asked, slightly in disbelief that a jackal would want to educate itself. I really should try and quit thinking like that, but it's hard to trust someone you were taught to hate. "Yeah. I've never really been able to do the whole normal school experience thing." Kai admitted. "Have you never gone to school?" I pried further, starting to become genuinely interested. "Nope. We mostly were just doing the whole homeschool thing. We would just get books and read them together when we were holed up in whatever town we stopped in. Generally, we wouldn't stay in the same place more than a week, so we couldn't really go to school. I would get a new book every chance I got and read it when I wasn't out scavenging the streets." he said, bowing his head, seemingly ashamed. With the things I've heard about jackals, it really took me by surprise the shame he feels about how they live.

Just as I was about to delve even further into his past, Jasmine and Chloe emerged from her room. Jasmine walked in first, heading straight for the cabinet grabbing two mugs and passing one over to Chloe. Jasmine hasn't said much since last night. As soon as Valentina left the room Jasmine grabbed Chloe and they disappeared into Jasmine's room, only to emerge a few minutes later to make a ton of popcorn before disappearing again. One thing I have learned about Jasmine is that she eats popcorn when she's nervous, and she made_ a lot_ of popcorn last night. Surely it couldn't be because of Kai? Valentina wouldn't have agreed to let him be here if she didn't believe he could be trusted. I guess I'll just have to wait it out until Jasmine is ready to talk about it.

We were all sitting quietly drinking our coffee and it started feeling a bit awkward. Chloe obviously felt it too so she stood up. "Well! I need to stop by my house before we go to school, so if we are all walking together then we should get going now." she squeaked. Jasmine quickly stood, nodding her head in agreement. Following their lead, Kai and I stood up as well. We each disposed of our cups in the sink and grabbed what we needed before making our way out the door. Chloe and Jasmine were ahead of Kai and myself, they were leaning close to each other whispering back and forth. What in the world is going on with those two? I was trying to tune into their conversation but couldn't hear anything because of how low their voices were. I guess Kai took this an an opportunity to try and talk to me like I had with him this morning.

"So you and Jasmine are like cousins right?" Kai asked. "Pretty much. Not by blood though. We met a little over two years ago just after I transformed. Valentina and Jasmine found me shortly after I got off a plane and took me in." I nodded, vaguely leaving out any more details than that. "And what about you and Chloe?"Kai asked as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "What about Chloe and I?" I shot back, glaring at him. "Just asking." He said, throwing his hands up by his face in a 'didn't mean to pry' sort of way. I honestly didn't mean to snap at him but it's sort of a touchy subject right now because I'm not even sure about Chloe and I right now. Right now I just need to find a way to talk to Chloe about our..date? I guess Kai got the hint that I didn't want to talk about it because he has now made his way up to Chloe and Jasmine, leaving me trailing behind the three of them.

Realizing this is probably one of my only opportunities to talk to Chloe before we go to school, I called out her name. We were getting close to her house so I needed to make our conversation fairly brief. She slowed down enough to where she was now beside me. "Hey." she breathed, smiling as she matched her pace with mine. "Hey King." I paused, "Sooo..." I continued, drawling out the word to try and prepare myself for what I was about to do. She looked over at me quizzically. "Sooo..." she mimicked. "So I was wondering when you would like to..cash in on our wager, so to speak." I said coolly. "Umm..How about Friday night?" she offered, blushing that ever so familiar shade of pink. "Perfect. It's a date."

***Chloe POV***

** '**_It's a date...It's a date..It's a date..' _Those three words kept ringing on and on throughout my head and I couldn't help but smile. My cheeks were on fire and I was sure my face was beet red by now. Alek was staring straight ahead with an honest to god (goddess?) smile on his face. We had all made it to my house and I excused myself and went inside to change and grab my things for school. Knowing that Alek could very well hear me if I got on the phone, I decided to instead text Amy.

**[A/N: This section in italics are Chloe and Amy's texts. Obviously..lol. And they are also obviously teenagers w/ smartphones, Smartphones have auto-correct. Hence the mostly complete sentences/words, but they are teenagers on the go ;) Not that I really needed to explain that..lol.]**

_Me: He said it's a DATE! _

_Amy: OMG! Details! When? Where? What r u wearing?_

_ Me: Farthest I got was Friday! Walking to my house from apt and he asked. I'm inside getting my stuff they're waiting outside. _

_ Amy: U better keep me posted!_

_ Me: I will. OMW to school. C u soon!_

_ Amy: Most def!_

As I read the last text from Amy, I threw my bag over my shoulder and darted down the stairs. Out of habit, I grabbed an apple and rushed out the front door, locking it behind me. Alek, Jasmine, and Kai were all standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting. I pulled Jasmine aside. "Can you walk ahead with Kai for a minute? I need to talk to Alek." I asked Jasmine. "What is it you need to talk to him about?" Jasmine inquired, her face lighting up. We had a very long heart to heart last night and I confessed to having a minor crush on Alek. Jasmine also confided in me that she thinks Kai is really cute - '_For a Jackal_' she had to add in. "We made a bet about a little race between the two of us the night he trained me alone. Let's just say he owes me dinner and a movie of my choice which he has to pay for." I giggled, thinking about how silly it sounded. "Of course, Alek would be the one to think of something like that. But hey, at least you are actually going to go on a date. Alek isn't one to do 'dates'." Jasmine laughed, placing air quotes at the end. "He even admitted to it being a date. I think. I'm pretty sure. He said 'It's a date' so he meant it was a date, right?" I rambled. "Trust me. It's definitely a date." Jasmine nodded.

I smiled at Jasmine and she starting walking towards school, calling for Kai to walk with her ahead like I asked. I wonder if that prophecy is going to come true..Jasmine and Kai would make a cute couple. At least I think so. I turned to look at Alek. "So. Friday. Dinner at 7 and I'll check the movie schedule for what's playing." I asserted with an almost business like tone. Alek smirked at me. Always with that smirk! "Great. If you behave I may even throw in dessert after." He said with a wink. And...back to his usual cocky self. I snorted at his remark and gave him a light shove. He nudged me back with his shoulder and we continued our little game back and forth for a minute.

***Alek POV***

We continued walking to school, only Chloe and I joined Jasmine and Kai so we were all walking together now. We'd made it to school and like any other day, we all parted to our normal routines. Chloe went to talk to Amy and Paul, Jasmine went straight to her locker, and I met up with Tyler and Shane. Kai went to the office to pick up his schedule. The school day went by like normal, only I now had two classes with Kai. His presence was seeming to bother me less and less, and by the end of the week he really started to grow on me. Kai turned out to be pretty decent at basketball and I was able to manage to talk coach into letting him on the team. I was actually starting to consider him a friend now. It's crazy considering last week I would have been able to rip his throat out with no remorse.

Today is the big day..Friday, that is. I've been thinking about today non-stop all week long. The school day was a blur and every time someone tried to have a conversation with me I just zoned out into my own little world. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't think about anything but Chloe. What she was going to wear, what we would talk about, where we would eat, what movie she would pick. Honestly the only thing that I'm really worried about is what we would converse about. I pulled out all the small talk last week when we had dinner so I'm at a loss for what to talk to her about. Hopefully she has something more to say than I do. I decided to play it safe and wear a blue button down shirt and a pair of black jeans, casual but versatile. I also decided to be play the gentleman card and drive instead of walking. I took the keys to one of the cars Valentina gave Jasmine and I permission to drive, a black Peugeot RCZ.

I drove to Chloe's house and parked on the curb, getting out and walking up to the front door. I knocked and about thirty seconds later Chloe's mother, Meredith, answered the door. I wasn't quite prepared for her mother to answer the door but I should have expected it. "Hello Ms. King, it's nice to finally meet you. Chloe has told me great things about you." I said smoothly, smiling and holding my hand out to her to shake. "And you must be Alex, Chloe hasn't stopped talking about you all week."

"MOM!" Chloe appeared out of no where, a look of pure shock and embarrassment on her face. I smirked at Chloe only to cause her to blush, though I'm sure the look on my face was just as embarrassing. Chloe looked stunning. She wore a light pink lace dress that fell just above her knees, with a thin yellow belt clinging to her waistline. She had on yellow heels that accented the belt and her legs. Her flowing curls that usually hung down around her face were swept back into a loose updo and her make up was flawless. Flawless just as I saw her. Everything combined took any coherent thought I had in my head and kicked it out, stomping on them as they left. "Are you ready to go?" Chloe asked, blushing and looking down at her shoes as if they were now the most interesting thing on the planet.

I pulled myself together, thanking Chloe's mother for allowing me to escort her for the evening before leading her out the door. "Wow. Looks like the Mai are doing better than I thought." Chloe remarked, gesturing towards the car which I was holding the door open for her. "This is just one of them. The only one Valentina will let us drive, that is. Besides, this is the least expensive one she has." I chuckled, placing my hand on the small of her back to guide her into the car. Chloe sat back in her seat and I made my way around to the drivers side. "So..Winners choice and since you're the winner..Where would you like to eat?" I asked as I got in, starting the engine. "How about Katia's?" She suggested. "Katia's sounds great." I told her. I'm not sure how much she actually thought this through considering Katia's is a Russian restaurant and we were both born in that area. I'm not even sure if I told her about that part of myself yet.

I drove us to the restaurant and found a spot fairly close to the entrance and got out. I walked around the front of the car to open Chloe's door for her. "Thank you." She murmured as she stepped out of the car, taking my extended hand to assist her. When she got out of the car, I let go of her hand and closed the door and we walked side by side to the restaurant. We got inside and the hostess seated us and after a few minutes the waitress came and we ordered our beverages. We made a bit of small talk, mostly about school and Chloe told me about Amy and Paul having a little mishap of communication. The waitress came back and we ordered our food. While we were waiting, I decided to tell Chloe a bit more about my past. "So you like Russian food?" I started. I figured it would be the best way to get into the conversation. "Yeah. I guess it's in my blood. I didn't even think to ask if you like it." she giggled, blushing along as usual.

"Actually, it's my favorite. I was born in Russia, you know. Must be bred into our taste buds." I laughed back, shooting her one of my infamous smirks. "You were born in Russia? You know I always had a sneaking suspicion that Petrov wasn't an English name." she joked. "Yeah. When I was adopted they kept my former name. They said something along the lines of keeping my family roots alive." I shrugged. "So what happened? I mean..To your birth parents? Obviously you know what happened to mine..But I don't, in any way, want you to feel obligated to tell me because of that." she said quickly. "I don't mind, really. When you mentioned coming to Katia's it seemed like an ideal time to bring it up. I trust you, Chloe. I want you to know about me and about my past." I insisted, reassuring her with a smile.

Chloe smiled back at me with bright eyes. "I was about six years old when they were attacked. It was already a hard enough time for the Mai. My birth parents and I were in the house when a group of members of The Order burst in. The last thing I could remember was my mother hiding me inside an armoire, telling me to be quiet. I heard some muffled voices, a scuffle of motion, and then the sound of something being dragged across the floor. Then there was nothing but silence. When I finally built up enough courage to get out of the armoire, I stepped out to find them gone. I ran throughout the house, searching for them everywhere, but I couldn't find them. It was like they disappeared. You couldn't have known what happened if you looked at the house. So I did what I thought was right. I grabbed a single photo of them..and ran. I ended up roaming around alone for a while when I was picked up by a police officer, and taken to an orphanage. I was adopted a few short months later, and everything was fine. My adoptive family loved me as their own. Until I turned fourteen. They were horrified when I told them about my transformation, and again, I did what I thought was right. I packed a duffel, grabbed my photo, and ran..All the way to the airport where I decided to fly to New York. It was the best decision I ever made. Valentina and Jasmine found me shortly after I got off the plane, and they took me in." I explained, probably in much greater detail than I have anyone else. I'm not sure I even told Valentina or Jasmine the entire story.

Chloe was just looking at me, I couldn't quite determine the emotions running through her. "Wow..I don't even know what to say." she breathed. "I know..It's a lot to take in." I paused, "It was quite a long story as well. I really didn't anticipate it to have been so long." I finished. "It was fine. Perfect length. I'm just glad you felt you could tell me something that personal. I know it's hard to talk about these things. I know better than most people, granted our situations were a little different, but all in all we had the same loss. It's not an easy loss to take either." Chloe reassured, grabbing my hand from across the table. She smiled brightly at me, and in turn I smiled back just as bright. There was no way I could have not smiled. Our waitress showed up at that point with our food, effectively breaking our bonded hands by placing our food in front of us.

We ate our food, talking about some lighter subjects. When we finished, I paid for the meal and we made our way to the car. Again, I opened her door for her. I drove to the theatre and we went to the ticket line. She made me sit through the movie Bridesmaids, which I won't admit to anyone but her, because she was with me, but I thought it was hilarious. We were back in the car now and I was driving her back home. I pulled up to the curb in front of her house and parked, jumping out to get the door for her again. She smiled at me as she got out and we walked up the steps of her porch. "I had a really nice time tonight." Chloe said as we made it to the door. "I had a really nice time too." I replied, and not wanting to step any boundaries, I leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. She was looking down at the ground and I could see the heat build in her cheeks for the dozenth time tonight.

Her mom opened the door and I bid the two of them goodnight. Chloe and her mother disappeared into the house and I got into the car and drove back to the apartment, only to drop the car off and change into a blue v-neck t-shirt and a black hoodie. I ran back to Chloe's house and made my way to my familiar spot on her roof above her room. I listened in to hear her heartbeat, only to find that it was racing. I panicked, thinking that perhaps an assassin made it into her room while I was back at the apartment. I quickly made my way into her room, catching the lamp that was being thrown towards my head. "Oh my god Alek! You scared me to death!" she exclaimed quietly. I put her lamp back in it's rightful place and turned to look at Chloe. "I heard your heart racing so I came in to check on you. I didn't mean to startle you. By the way, your mom is asleep, I can hear her breathing, it's steady." I admitted. "It's okay. I guess since she's sleeping we can go up on the roof. I couldn't sleep right now if I tried anyway." she said, grabbing some pillows and blankets and handing them to me.

I squeezed the pillows and blankets through the window, laying them across the roof. Chloe followed me out, and lay down on her back looking up at the night sky. I lay down beside her and we recounted some of the scenes of the movie we thought were funny. We were laughing and having fun and eventually, Chloe unknowingly started a pillow fight, which turned into a small wrestling match. I finally pinned her gently to the roof, and before I could stop myself, I leaned in, gazing into her bright blue eyes. She smiled, blushing lightly and turned her head. I placed my fingers gingerly on her face and gently moved her face towards mine. I leaned in closer, I could feel her breath hitting my face and I could hear her heart beating rapidly. Then unexpectedly, Chloe closed the distance, locking her lips to mine. Her lips melded perfectly to mine, they were soft and sweet, just like her. For one brief moment, the world around us disappeared. Our kiss broke and Chloe blushed the deepest shade of red imaginable.

In that moment, I knew I was forever lost to Chloe King. The very second our lips touched, I knew the one thing I've feared the most in my life was happening, right here, right now. I am falling in love.

**A/N: So..I hope I did well enough for their date/kiss. I wanted it soft and sweet, so I think I portrayed it as such..I hope so anyway. **

**You can see Chloe's outfit and hair along with the car Alek drives on my tumblr, the link is on my profile.**

**But yeah..About future chapters..**

**1. How would you like to see this story play out? **

**2. Obviously Jasmine and Kai are going to get together at some point, so do you want me to incorporate their POV's in at all or third party their relationship through Alek and Chloe?**

**3. Okay, so I can't think of a third question. I would just like to say that I'd like to get at least 9 reviews (totaling my reviews to 50) before I update again. I will make sure to update in no less than one week even if I don't, but I don't think my goal is too unrealistic, right? So please review! Don't be afraid to criticize as long as it's constructive!**

**And quickly before I upload this chapter, I just want to say thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed/alerted this story, it really means a lot! **


	11. Guardian

**A/N: I do not own anything relatable to TNLOCK.**

**Just a quick apology! I know I said I would update in no less than a week and it's been a little over two weeks! So I am so so so sorry! In an effort to make up for it..this chapter is 4,900 words! Woo! On with the chapter!**

***Chloe POV***

One minute Alek and I are just staring up at the night sky, playing around and wrestling. The next he had me pinned against the roof, it wasn't aggressive and I knew if I wanted to I could have easily slipped out of his grasp. I couldn't help myself but to stay there as he inched his face closer to mine, staring deep into my eyes. As lame as it sounds, I felt like I could see into his soul. I nervously looked away as I felt the heat rise yet again in my cheeks. He gently placed his fingers along the side of my face, lightly pulling it back to face his. He leaned a bit closer, and I could feel the warmth radiating off his body, along with each breath he took as it hit my face. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and I knew that there was nothing in the world that could make it slow. I could feel what was coming next, and I could no longer take the anticipation. I have dreamt about this moment for two years! I pictured dozens upon dozens of ways it would happen.

There was one thing I had never imagined happening, though. I kissed him. Me..Stuttering, bumbling, nervous wreck around any cute boy, Chloe King - Just kissed the most handsome boy I had ever laid eyes on. I always imagined how I would feel when I kissed a boy, granted I kissed Xavier, but it wasn't one of those soul-crushing, earth-shattering, end of a romance movie kisses. It was quick, and I felt nothing but the excitement of having doing something I would never ordinarily do. But with Alek...It was everything I ever hoped it would be. Even if it did only last a couple seconds. Anything I could have ever imagined to feel..Sparks flying, toe-curling, takes your breath away, tingling, seeing fireworks, you name it..I felt it the moment our lips touched. I had an unfamiliar feeling run throughout my body, and I knew exactly what it was. I couldn't bear to admit it this soon but when it dawned on me, I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Our kiss broke and with what I just realized, I couldn't help but blush. My entire face burned hotter than I've ever felt before. Somehow I always felt a strange connection to Alek from the first day I met him. I still don't know what to think about it, but I've always felt drawn to him. I've always felt safe and protected. Maybe it's just a Mai thing. All I know is what I feel, even though it's too soon to feel like this about someone, right? I must be crazy even thinking this, I'm only sixteen. I barely even know what love is, let alone to be experiencing it..If that's even what it is I'm feeling.

"Chloe?" Alek whispered, intruding my thoughts. My eyes popped open to Alek still only inches away from my face. I didn't even realize my eyes had been closed the whole time. I'm not even positive of how long we've been laying there. My face was still on fire, but I managed to force myself to meet his gaze. Still stunned by what I had just done, I couldn't bring myself to speak, instead I just sat up and stuttered out random sounds trying to combine them into words with no avail. Alek just chuckled at me, put a finger to my lips and placed his other hand on the side of my face, pulling me towards him again, sealing the distance between us once again. I immediately responded to the warmth of his lips against mine, gravitating my body closer to his as I wrapped my arms around him. My hands made their way to his head and I dragged my fingers through his surprisingly soft mop of hair.

***Alek POV***

After an awkward minute of Chloe laying there underneath me with her eyes closed and quiet, I whispered her name. Her face was still bright red, and her eyes popped open in surprise. She sat up and started to try and speak, but the only things coming from her mouth were jumbled up vowels and consonants that made no sense. I let out a small chuckle of amusement that she had been rendered speechless by the actions that just occurred and I placed one finger to her lips to quiet her. I used my free hand to cup the side of her face, pulling her into another kiss. She immediately responded by wrapping her arms around my neck before dragging them up to my head and running her delicate fingers through my hair.

I followed Chloe's lead and placed my hands on her waist, pulling her so her torso was pressed to mine. I decided to make a bolder move, so I swept my tongue across her bottom lip, and she met it with her own. She was hesitant at first, and I could sense it, so I just slowly moved my tongue with hers, letting her set the pace. After what seemed like an eternity of the slow, yet sensual kiss, Chloe started to get a little more brave and sped up her pace slightly. We lay on the roof kissing for another few minutes until the sound of her mother stirring in her bed popped me out of my trance.

Chloe must had heard too because she promptly sat up grabbing what she could of the pillows and blankets and headed for her window. "I really should go inside..My mom will kill me if she finds out that I'm out here...Especially if she finds out that I'm out here with a boy." She exclaimed quiet as can be, her eyes blazing with nervousness. Chloe climbed through her window and threw the pillows and blankets into her bathroom before jumping into her bed, throwing her covers on herself just as her mom's footsteps sounded outside her door. I ducked away from the window and listened. I could hear her mother quietly opening the door to check on Chloe.

I'm assuming that she thought Chloe was asleep because I heard her exit the room, closing the door just as quiet as she opened it. Once her mothers footsteps disappeared into her room, Chloe let out a nervous sigh. "Alek? Are you still there?" She whispered just soft enough for me to hear. "Can't get enough of me, can you King?" I whispered back as I propped myself up by my elbows on her window sill, smirking. She glared at me and threw a pillow at my face and I caught it, tossing it back at her managing to not make a sound. "Quiet, kitten. Don't want Mommy to catch you with a boy at your window, do you?" I joked, chuckling softly. Chloe rolled her eyes at me, trying her hardest to ignore my sarcasm. She got up off the bed and walked to the window, leaning down to place a soft kiss upon my lips before shoving me backwards out of the window. "See you tomorrow, _Petrov_." She said, enunciating my last name as she shut her bedroom window.

I silently made my way around her house, making sure everything was safe before going to sit across the street on her neighbors roof. Normally I would have just sat on her roof but I had an odd feeling about something so I didn't. Trusting my gut, I called Jasmine. She picked up after the second ring, _"Hey, is everything okay?" _she asked automatically. "Right now, yes. More than okay actually, but that's not why I'm calling. I'm not quite sure why, but I have an odd feeling about something, though I don't quite know what it could be." I replied. She stayed quiet for a minute. _"What kind of odd feeling?" _What kind of question is that? _"_How am I supposed to know? I just have an odd feeling like something is going to happen...Possibly something bad." I admitted, the bad part hitting me just as the words left my mouth. "I think you need to come out here tonight with me. I'm starting to get a really bad feeling and I want to be prepared for the worst." I added. _"I'm on my way." _Jasmine said before hanging up. One thing about Jasmine and I is that no matter what, we always had each others backs without question.

Not even 10 minutes later, after walking the perimeter of the houses surrounding Chloe's dozens of times, Jasmine arrived. With Kai, might I add. I raised an eyebrow questioningly at Jasmine. "It's good to have more than one backup..Besides, neither of us could sleep so we were just hanging out in the living room." Jasmine replied, shrugging her shoulders nonchalant. Kai looked over at her and smiled, and I saw her smile back. Wait, have I missed something? Does Jasmine have a crush on the Jackal?! I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, I saw something moving a few houses away from Chloe's on the roof. I swiftly moved out of sight with Jasmine and Kai following my lead. I placed a finger to my lips, and Jasmine and Kai nodded in agreement. The three of us watched silently as the figure moved closer, stopping one house away from Chloe's.

I held my breath as I watched the figure move again, walking around the houses closest to Chloe's. I assumed he was checking to see if there were anyone protecting her. Lucky for us, we were, but unlucky for them. I motioned for Jasmine and Kai to move and position themselves on the far side of Chloe's house, opposite of where we were standing. They moved stealthily to their positions and I made my way towards the figure who was now on Chloe's roof, standing just a mere five feet away from her window. I got closer to what I could now distinguish was a man. And not just any man. It was the scar-faced freak we encountered weeks ago. I was now one roof away from him and he was inching closer and closer to Chloe's window. I checked to see where Jasmine and Kai were before I made another move. They moved closer and we formed a slightly off triangle around the perimeter of Chloe's house.

"You didn't really think she would be left unprotected, did you?" I asked quietly, but loud enough for Scarface to hear. He bowed his head down, turning it slightly so he could see me with his peripheral vision. He laughed wickedly, shaking his head as he turned slowly to face me. "Now, now, kitty cat. Don't mistake me for a fool. Of course I didn't think that. I am very much well versed in taking out guarded targets. Would you like to hear my evil plot on how I plan on killing your beloved Uniter?" He teased nonchalantly. He was looking at me with one eyebrow raised and a evil smirk across his lips.

"You'll never get close enough to her." I barked back, glaring at him with pure hate filled eyes. "My, my..Was that supposed to be a threat? It really doesn't have the same effect without something to threaten me with. Listen here pussycat..I am going to kill your precious Uniter tonight. But there is an interesting problem imposing my plan." He shot back, pausing, but still nonchalant as can be. "You see, your Uniter still has eight lives left. It would really be a pain to have to kill her and wait for her to come back eight more times, so then I thought..Why not just treat her like any unwanted kitten? Shove her in a burlap sack and toss her in a river."

He took a step towards me, lowering his head and grinning maliciously at me. "You know they say drowning is actually the most painful way to die. But it is efficient. Every time she comes back to life, she'll gasp for air. But there won't be any." He laughed maniacally and I glared at him. I smirked at him as I extended my claws. "There is another interesting problem imposing your plan." I said, taking a step towards him. My vision became more prominent and focused as my eyes adjusted to their Mai slits. "You didn't account for me." I growled.

He laughed again. What is it with this freak that he thinks everything is so funny? "It's amazing..I'm not even going to have to tell you to try to stop me, I can see you're already going to try. Just make it interesting. I like interesting." Little does he know how interesting this is going to be for him. "Enough of your long winded pointless speeches. It ends here. Now." I angrily stated before lunging towards him, tackling him onto his back. I pinned him down at his elbows and glanced quickly to see Jasmine and Kai standing on the two opposite roofs, waiting to make a move if I needed them to. I glared back down at Scarface, who was laughing, again.

The bedroom window flung open to a panic stricken Chloe, bewildered at the sight in front of her. It distracted me a second too long because Scarface wriggled out of my grasp, slicing a huge gash into my forearm with a knife he had stashed in his jacket. Jasmine and Kai rushed to my side, recapturing Scarface before he could take off again. I angrily stood up and stalked over to them, grabbing Scarface by his throat. I pierced the tips of my claws into the flesh on his neck. "Jasmine!" I barked, not looking away from the despicable human in my grasp. "Make sure Chloe is safe. Kai, come with me. We won't be long." I demanded.

Jasmine listened, rushing to Chloe's side. I could hear Chloe's protests, but Jasmine didn't let her leave her room. Satisfied with Jasmine and Chloe being in Chloe's room now, I pulled Scarface across the roof with Kai's help. We made it about two miles away and into a warehouse. The whole way there I was debating on just making it quick and ripping his throat out with my bare hands. But I opted for something different. Kai grabbed some chains that were lying around and wrapped them around Scarface. "This isn't the end, you know. There are more. They will come for the girl, no matter how long it takes..It will be done. It's just a matter of time." Scarface said, laughing again. That laugh was starting to get on my nerves more than before. I took some of that anger out on Scarface, throwing a punch to his nose, hearing it crack as my fist collided into it.

I looked around the building, searching for ways to kill this miserable being. My eyes landed on a boat. I didn't realize it until now but we were at one of the warehouses on the pier. The boat was being held up above water by chains like the ones surrounding Scarfaces body. It was then that the idea struck me. His death is going to be just as he was going to murder my Chloe. I turned around and grabbed Scarface by the back collar of his jacket, pulling him over to the water. "You know they say drowning is actually the most painful way to die." I growled, quoting his earlier words. "I'm not even going to give you the satisfaction of putting you in a sack, either. You're going to sink to the bottom like the bottom feeder you are, and you're going to watch as all the oxygen leaves your body and floats up out the water, escaping like you will wish you can." I said as I put more chains on him, making him heavier and heavier.

Before I could convince myself otherwise, I kicked him into the water and watched as he slowly sunk to the bottom. I stood there, staring at the dark water in front of me, knowing what I did was horrible, but I couldn't bring myself to look away. I watched as bubble after bubble emerged, until they slowed, the bubbles getting smaller and smaller. Until one tiny bubble surfaced, and there were no more. I felt sick to my stomach, knowing what I had just done. I've had to kill only once before this, and it was quick, and what I hoped was painless. I walked over to Kai, and without saying a word, we climbed to the rooftop and made our way back to Chloe's in silence.

As soon as we got to Chloe's roof, she jumped out of her window and stormed over to me. "What the hell Alek! You scared me half to death! Jasmine wouldn't tell me what was going on! Where were you?! And was that the crazy scar-face freak that killed me?" she yelled at me. "I'm sorry Chloe. But, yes it was the scar-face freak, and I took care of him. He's gone and won't be coming back. That's all you need to know. You're safe..For now." I said, leaving out all the details. I definitely would not be able to bring myself to tell her what exactly I had just done. I looked over at Kai, and he gave me a look like he was saying he understands, and that he wouldn't say a word. I felt a small wave of relief, but I knew that it wouldn't last forever. I needed to talk to Valentina about this. She needs to know what happened, and what was said. The bad feeling still hadn't left the pit of my stomach. I'm just hoping that it is because of what Scarface said about the others.

I could feel Chloe staring at me, I knew she was wondering what exactly was going through my head. I debated on whether or not to at least tell her what he had said, but decided against it. At least until I could talk to Valentina about it. I have a feeling that this is definitely the beginning of what we have been waiting for.

***Chloe POV***

I knew I had no right to yell at Alek, he was just protecting me. But I couldn't help but to be slightly angry, I mean come on, how much more vague could his answer be? Alek looked over at Kai and then back at me. I was just staring at him now, and he looked slightly worried, and slightly...something else. I couldn't quite pinpoint it, so I just heaved out a sigh, and walked up to Alek. I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed him tight. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me close so there wasn't even a millimeter of distance between the two of us. "I'm sorry Chloe." Alek apologized again. "It's fine. We don't have to talk about it now. But I will want answers eventually, you know that, right?" I replied, staring directly into his eyes so he knew that I meant it. And I did mean it. I know it's probably not something I will want to hear, but I have to know the truth.

Alek nodded his head showing me he understood and squeezed me into another tight hug. "I'm sorry to have to do this right now, but I really need to go and speak with Valentina. Jasmine, Kai; Can you watch over Chloe tonight?" Alek said, looking to Jasmine and Kai for their response. They both nodded their heads, even though we all knew they wouldn't have denied to do it. Alek looked back at me with apologetic eyes. "I'll see you in the morning." He said before taking me in to another hug. He gave me a quick peck on the lips before sprinting across the rooftops out of sight.

I looked over at Jasmine and Kai, who were both looking at me with a sly smile. "What was _that _about?" Jasmine pried, smiling as she said it. "What was what about?" I replied back, acting as if I had no idea what she was talking about. "Oh you don't fool me, Chloe King! You know exactly what I'm talking about. Spill." Jasmine said with her arms crossed. I smiled and felt the warmth in my cheeks. "Okay, okay. We went to dinner at that russian restaurant, Katia's. Then we went to the movies and Alek dropped me off and just kissed me on the cheek. I could have sworn he was going to kiss me then, but he didn't." I told her, shrugging my shoulders. Kai sighed, knowing that all the girl talk was about to ensue, so he walked to the other side of the roof. Jasmine looked at me expectantly. "And then?" she asked.

"And then he left." I shrugged while Jasmine just glared at me. "Okay and then he obviously came back, so then what happened?" she pointed out. "So then he came back and scared the living daylight out of me. So I gathered up some pillows and blankets and we went out to sit on the roof because there was no way I could fall asleep after that." I paused, laughing. "Then we talked about the movie we saw and got into a pillow fight slash wrestling match and he pinned me to the roof.." I continued before squeaking out, "And then we kissed." in a hushed tone. Jasmines face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh my goddess! Details now! Actually, wait, no..I don't want details! Alek is family." Jasmine squealed before adding the last part as somewhat of a spoken afterthought.

"So what's up with you and Kai?" I asked, wanting to change the subject from Alek and I. Besides, I was genuinely curious about the two of them, especially after that prophecy. Jasmine's eyes widened and she blushed, smiling brightly. "I take that as something is up?" I asked, already knowing what the answer was going to be. "Actually..Yes? Sort of? Maybe?" she replied, fighting with herself for a definite answer, which she couldn't come up with. "That definitely means there is!" I beamed, not bothering to try and hide my excitement. "Okay, so yes. There is definitely something there, but I don't think Kai or I quite understand the connection yet. We get along really well, we like a lot of the same things..Not to mention he is a complete gentleman." Jasmine admitted.

We sat in silence for a minute while I just sat there with a stupid grin plastered on my face. Jasmine blushed a bright shade of red and I poked her on the shoulder playfully. "So what are you going to do about it?" I asked, still with the stupid grin. "I don't know. I guess we'll 'let the fates decide'." she shrugged, air quoting with her fingers. "Have you said anything to Alek about the prophecy?" I asked, changing the subject slightly. Jasmine just shook her head. "No. I don't know how he will react. He gave us a look earlier like he knew something was up and he didn't look mad or anything..Just sort of confused. I didn't have time to talk to him because that creepy scar faced guy showed up. Thank Bastet we don't have to worry about him anymore." she replied. "Tell me about it." I said, rolling my eyes in annoyance. The stupid Order is screwing everything up!

Not even realizing it, dawn was already approaching. I grabbed my phone to check the time. It was two minutes to six. "I have to go inside! My mom is due to wake up and come wake me up in two minutes!" I blurted, hastily getting up and making my way into my room. Jasmine poked her head into my window. "When your mom wakes you up, get yourself ready to go, Kai and I will come to the door in fifteen minutes to get you so we can go talk to my mom." she said. "Okay, but my mom is going to wonder why you're here so early. I usually don't have anyone come over so early, I'm pretty much always late all the time." I laughed. "Just tell her we're going to get coffee and that I need you to do a final once over on my paper for english." Jasmine shrugged. "Okay." I agreed, hopping into my bed and tucking the covers around me. Today is going to be a long..long day.

***Alek POV***

"Scarface is gone." I declared as I walked into the door of the apartment. Valentina was standing in the kitchen holding a cup of coffee which she slowly placed on the counter in front of her. "Well done." she said before continuing. "So why is it that you still look unsettled?" she finished. I paced back and forth nervously, trying to put the right words together. I looked down at my arm, not realizing how much blood covered it until now. I opened my mouth to say something about it, but Valentina just raised her hand and moved to grab the first aid kit. "It was what he said to me before I..killed him." I told her as she worked on the injury on my forearm. Valentina didn't say anything, she just continued her work on my arm, waiting patiently for me to continue.

"He said that there are more that will come for her, that they wouldn't stop for as long as it takes. I already knew that, but for some reason, just him saying it struck me down to the core." I continued. "That is not all that's bothering you, Nephew." Valentina stated. "You're right, it's not. I just did something so cruel, so evil, that I'm not even sure how to think of myself anymore. I have never thought I would be capable of what I just did, and it scares me more than anything in the world. Aunt Val..I-" I broke down, not able to finish telling her what I did. How can I admit to the only family I have the horrible thing I've done? I know it had to be done, but there were other ways. Many, many other ways to have done it. But I stooped myself down to The Orders level, and I feel like a monster. "I didn't kill him only because it needed to be done..I killed him because I wanted to. I killed him in a manner that makes me truly feel like a monster.." I finished, admitting to Valentina my true feelings of what I had done.

"You're not a monster Alek. You are anything but a monster. You were fueled with your overwhelming need to be _the _protector, when you are one of many. You, Alek, are more than just a protector. You are a guardian." Valentina said, placing a hand on my shoulder in an effort to comfort me. She stood up and walked to her office, emerging a moment later carrying a small, old leather book. "Here. This will explain more than I can." she said as she handed me the book. I looked at her with confusion. "What is it?" I asked. "It's a journal written by Nikolai Petrakov. He served as a researcher for the Mai a little over two centuries ago in the late 1700's. It is written in this journal his findings, the only record ever made about the guardian. The Mai have searched all over throughout the decades and centuries passed, and none turned up with anything." She answered.

"So how did you get it?" I urged, suddenly eager to find out more. "It was given to me." she answered, pausing briefly. "By your biological father." she clarified. I looked up at her in shock and confusion. "It was passed down to him through the generations." she continued calmly. I struggled slightly to wrap my head around the information just passed to me. I stared at the small leather book, wondering the secrets held within it. I ran my fingers over the cracked leather hoping in some magical way the book would answer my questions without having to open it. The journal of Nikolai Petrakov. '_Petrakov. Petrakov..Petra..kov...-Petrov?' _I thought to myself when it hit me like a brick. "Passed down through _my _families generations?" I asked, but I got the feeling it shouldn't have been a question. Valentina nodded. "Yes nephew. Nikolai Petrakov is your approximate ninth great grandfather. The reason that only his journal is the only source of information about the guardian is because it is considered a family secret. I have respected your families wishes and have not read it, but I think you should. When you're finished, come see me and I will answer any questions I can." Valentina advised before disappearing into her office.

I stood there, staring at the book in my hand, willing myself to read it. I heaved a sigh and stood up, making my way to my bedroom where I placed the book on my bed and sat down. I stared at the tiny book for what seemed like hours before finally grabbing it. _'Now or never.' _I thought as I opened the book, turning the first page, which simply read:

_Nikolai Petrakov. 1776. _

_For The Guardian._

__**A/N: Exciting, eh?! Any ideas what secrets will be held in the book? **

**As always, review please! Make my day, make me want to write the next chapter as fast as possible, lol.**


	12. AN! Sorry!

This is only an author's note, so sorry if you thought it was a new chapter! I would just like to say how sorry I am for not updating for so long. There have been a lot of things going on lately, I just have not had the time to write. I plan on resuming this story asap. I won't go into detail of what happened, let's just say there was something very personal and I was upset for a while. But anyway, we moved and I am pregnant with my 2nd child! So yay for that!

As of right now, I do not really have any ideas for what is going to be in Alek's book..so if you have any thoughts or ideas, feel free to review or pm me in the meantime. If you didn't know by now, I do not plan my storyline, I go with the flow and write as I go..lol. :)

So, let me not waste anymore of your time..I would like to get a couple more reviews so I know there are still people interested in reading my story. So if you want this story to live, let me know! I'm going to start working on another chapter hopefully sometime this week and the faster the responses, the more likely (and faster) this story will live on!

3 Thank you!


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